Young people: throughcare, transitions, integration and reintegration Claire Lightowler [email protected] developing, supporting

www.cycj.org.uk developing, supporting & understanding youth justice

Young people: throughcare, transitions,

integration and reintegration

Claire Lightowler [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Layers of transitions

• Childhood to adulthood• Supported to independent living • Custodial setting to the community • Education to employment • Youth to adult justice


Scotland 2012-13 • 4.7% of children involved in offending (23,726

kids)

• Charged with 43,117 crimes

• Young people responsible for 16% of all crimes & offences

Scottish Government (2013) Scottish Policing Performance Framework, 2012-13.


Fall in detected offences between 2008/9 and

2012/13

youth (under 18) adult (18+)-50%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

-45%

-4%


No. children referred to the children’s reporter

on offence grounds


Prison population – under 21. 10 October

2014young men: 410 | young women: 29

Young women: 7% (5% of adults)

Untried: 26% of under 21s (16% of adults)


% change in prison receptions 2002-03 to 2010-

11

youth adult-50%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

-41%

9%


2718 young people leaving prison 2011-12


Secure care population

• 90 beds - 2 beds available (15 October 2014)

• 35% girls (31 July 2013)

• 51% are aged 16 or over (31 July 2013)


Secure admissions 2002/03 to 2011/12

2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-120

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

258242

273251

307

346

272

314

276

237

94 94 93 94112

100

124106 112

94

Admissions Places


Secure discharges

2011 2012 20130

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Close support Secure


Around 3000 young people transitioning from custody

or secure each year


“Since I turned eight it’s just been a life of jail. I must have spent about a year since I turned eight, with my mum and dad, the rest of its just been in and out of secure, in and out of residential and now this”


“this is the fifth time I’ve been in jail and I’m only 17. I’ve not actually had a chance to prove I can work. Every time I get out I stay with my mum, but I end up getting chucked out because I smoke weed and I end up sitting out my nut every day in my house”


“I’ve been locked up most of my life so I’m used to being locked up. Jail doesn’t bother me. I’m in that routine now where I’ve always been in trouble from a young age, so it doesn’t really bother me”


Care leavers: Key concerns

1) having to go back to abusive/problematic families2) feeling alone and abandoned3) poor accommodation 4) no support from services and 5) experiencing homelessness.

310 care leavers aged 17 –78 Duncalf (2010)


Bereavement and Loss

“How many more people do I have to see die? I’m only 19 and that’s five people died already and I keep thinking to myself ‘are the rest of them gonna die?’ And then I’ll grow up alone”

(Vaswani, 2014)


Bereavement and loss

• 33 young men in Polmont YOI• 91% had experienced at least one

bereavement• Over three-quarters experienced traumatic

bereavements (murder, suicide, overdose)• Two-thirds suffering from substantial

bereavements (four or more)


Seasons for growth

• Polmont YOI trying out new group work programme -Seasons for Growth.

• Designed to help people deal with loss. • Weekly sessions 8 weeks • First time anyone has run Seasons for Growth

in a Young Offenders Institution.


Interventions for vulnerable youth (IVY)

• Young people presenting a significant risk to others

• Scotland wide service – free for use• Forensic and clinical psychology, and social

work • Level 1 - consultation clinic• Level 2 - specialist clinical forensic psychology

assessment. • Level 3 - (specialist treatment)


Mental Health

• IVY project –September 2013 • All had input from social work services and

looked after status • 76% exposed to domestic violence • 88% experienced some other form of

maltreatment

Psychological/Mental Disorders

N=30MEAN = 4

Diagnosed or Suspected Difficulty nAnger 9Anxiety 3Autism Spectrum Disorder 12Attachment Disorder 7Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder 10Communication Disorder 2Complex Post Traumatic Stress 12Deliberate Self-Harm 12Dissociation 3Eating Difficulties 3 Emotional Dysregulation 7Learning Disability 3Low Mood 2 Oppositional Defiant/Conduct Disorder 2 Psychosis 2 Sleep Difficulties 2 Substance Misuse Difficulties (Alcohol/Drugs) 15Suicidal Ideation/Action 8Thought Disorder 1Toileting Difficulties 3Tourette’s Syndrome 1Unusual perceptual experiences 4


Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions & Crime

• Cohort of 4,300 young people who started secondary school in Edinburgh in 1998

“school exclusion is a key moment impacting adversely on subsequent conviction trajectories”

(McAra and McVie, 2010)


Polmont study

• At least 80% of the young men had experienced exclusion from school (in 20% of cases there was no mention of this)

• High levels of school exclusions at primary school age

• However, the majority had some positive experience of education



Speech, language & communication needs

• Prevalence in the youth justice population between 50% and 60% (UK wide)

• Survey of Scottish local authorities (17 responses received)

• 35% reported that their area used tools to assess children and young people for SLCN

• Only 41% reported that there were services or interventions available in their areas to support young people with SLCN


Outside In, Youth Work service

• Outside In, Youth Work service • Provided in Cornton Vale and Polmont for young

people between 16-21• Delivered by Barnardo's Scotland in partnership

with Caledonia Youth• Informal education: duke of Edinburgh, music,

health and well-being, film making, arts and crafts, mental health, anti-bullying, alternatives to violence


“Last time I got out the women from Plan B helped me get a college course but when they got back to me I was in court and I ended up getting the jail”


Activity agreements • Young people who without additional

support might not successfully transition to work, further education or training

• Formal agreement between a young person and an advisor

• early identification of those in need of additional support

• Might receive Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for complying


Activity agreements and youth justice

pilot• 10 local authority areas • To better identify and support young people

at risk of disengaging from learning• To provide them with bespoke learning to

prevent them entering the justice system• Establish a joint coherent approach between

WSA and Activity Agreements


Polmont – supports

• Young men’s mothers were the main support for 34%.

• Other sources of support: fathers, step-parents, relatives, friends and girlfriends

• Sources of support not noted in 27% of cases


Supports for the family

• Family help hubs – Cornton Vale (Sept 2013), Polmont (2014)

• Family group conferencing• Family mentoring• Multi-systemic therapy • Specialist fostering


Transition package – secure care

Good Shepherd offer transition packages including:

• Individual support in the community• Continuation of programmes • Family support work• CBT


Polmont - accommodation

• 49% young men were residing with their parent(s) prior to entering custody.

• 59% intended to go home to live with their parent following their release

• Benefit implications – bedroom tax etc.


Research suggests that most young people return to their family of origin on leaving secure care and prison establishments regardless of suitability (Gray, 2011)


Ordinary Homes – Extraordinary Lives

• Young people leaving Polmont• Facing homelessness • Each young person supported by a mentor• Live with the mentor on release, who

supports their reintegration• Mentors receive specialist training • Young people and mentors matched


Peer support & Advocacy

• 28 young people’s groups

• 340 young people involved


Transitions and Polmont YOI

• Social work reports for 125 young men

• November 2012-October 2013

• 11 interviews

• 6% of reports specifically indicated that throughcare provisions were in place

• 59% of cases there was no specific reference to throughcare


“All young people should have a multi-agency single plan that moves with them regardless of where they are placed or live. ..In secure care or the prison setting, the key worker or personal officer should act as the named person, with the local authority where the child resides maintaining the role as lead professional to ensure effective transitions for these young people.” Scottish Government (2011) Reintegration & Transitions; Guidance for Local Authorities, Community Planning Partnerships and Service Providers, Scottish Government, Edinburgh (p.16)


Funding issues

• Used to be up to £10k transition fund per young person for leaving secure - now withdrawn

• Assistance, including financial provided under section 29 (Children (Scotland) Act 1995)

• What will the impact of the Children and Young People’s Act be?


Cost of return…

Average cost per young person per year:• HMYOI Polmont - £32,371• Secure care - £268,320


Evidence suggests that young people who leave custody with a lack of resources and support have a higher risk of returning to custody, particularly when there is limited co-ordination between agencies

(Griffiths et al., 2007)


What works…

• Holistic - reintegration strategies that produce the most favourable results (Bateman, Hazel and Wright, 2013)

• Support integrated across custody and in the community

• Long-term support• Build connections to parents, school, training

providers, employers, community


Partners need to:• Work together to plan for a young person’s return to

their communities• Involve the young person and their family where

appropriate in all planning• Start the planning process the day the young person

enters into the establishment• Ensure organisations responsible for meeting the

young person’s needs are involved and ready for their return (including employment/training; accommodation; health services; financial support, leisure/recreation)


Supporting the transition

• Prior issues/needs• Responding to issues exacerbated by youth

justice • Building strengths and capacities • Maximise opportunities to use skills• Maintaining, building and strengthening

community connections and relationships• Building capacity of parent(s)/sources of

support


www.cycj.org.uk

Documents

Young people: throughcare, transitions, integration and reintegration Claire Lightowler [email protected] developing, supporting