Inspectors welcome child-centred approach to youth interventions

The Inspection Report published on Thursday (September 5) looked in detail at the work and approach of the YJA’s Youth Justice Services Directorate in delivering interventions to children aged ten to 17 years across Northern Ireland.

“Many of the children referred to the Youth Justice Services Directorate have complex needs. They may have experienced trauma or have lived experience of care, domestic abuse in their homes, be neurodiverse or had a disrupted education,” said Ms Durkin.

“Effective intervention and diversion from offending and risk of harm can change a child’s life.  Even one positive role model can make the difference between a child achieving their potential and having a criminal record.

“Inspectors found many highly skilled and experienced staff working within the Youth Justice Services area teams who demonstrated both motivation and understanding of what was required to help children, families, carers and victims.

“Their approach in delivering both statutory and non-statutory interventions was child-centred, and their method of working was solution focused, trauma informed and responsive to the offending related needs of the children they engaged with.”

The inspection found that at an operational level there were excellent relationships in place between YJA area teams and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) youth diversion officers, prosecutors from the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPS), Health and Social Care Trusts and Education Authority partners.

However, the Chief Inspector identified a gap at a strategic level around engagement between the YJA and the PSNI.

“There is a need for the YJA to be an integral part of a shared vision for youth justice in Northern Ireland,” said Ms Durkin.

“To support this, we have recommended the YJA, the PSNI and Department of Justice should agree and implement a plan that ensures a shared vision for youth justice in Northern Ireland with meaningful collaboration and synergy across all relevant strategies, particularly those developed by the PSNI.”

Overall, feedback from parents, carers, children and victims inspectors spoke to was “overwhelmingly positive” about the relationships that were built with staff, the type and nature of the interventions provided and support that existed.

“But retention of its highly skilled and child-centred workforce was a challenge,” said the Chief Inspector. “Differences in salary scales available to staff working in the YJA compared with similarly qualified staff, particularly social workers employed in the Health and Social Care Trusts, had contributed to this.”

“The workforce challenges are well known by senior management and should be addressed as a strategic priority so the YJA can continue to meet current and future need.”

Ms Durkin added: “We have recommended that within the next three months the YJA, in partnership with the Department of Justice, should review its governing Framework Document to ensure the operation of the Youth Justice Services Directorate are reflected and linked to the provision of high-quality services and the retention of a highly skilled child- focused workforce.”

As part of their fieldwork, inspectors reviewed a sample of case files to examine the quality of youth interventions being provided, and the steps being taken to ensure the safety and well being of the child and address risk of harm to others.

“Our sample showed further improvements could be made by staff to evidence and document their work to support children’s needs to move away from offending behaviour, ensure their safety and manage risk of harm,” said Ms Durkin.

To support this improvement inspectors have recommended that within the next six months the YJA should develop both effective and regular strategic scrutiny of the Youth Justice Services Directorate case work quality and workforce trends. Regular quality assurance of its case work is needed to enable this, they said.

Ms Durkin said that while the report highlighted many positives around Early Stage Diversion work undertaken by the YJA in response to children’s need in local areas, it must be delivered in a consistent manner and carefully scrutinsed to ensure children are not being unnecessarily drawn into contact with the formal criminal justice system.

“The work of the YJA and its staff has been vital in providing much needed support to children and their parents and carers,” she said.

“In recent weeks we have seen young children getting involved in criminality on our streets and the detrimental impact that has for our community and themselves. Without effective early intervention services, more children will be added to the 400-plus children who currently have cases outstanding in the Youth Court and may not have access to services to help prevent further offending for some time.

“While we recommend that the YJA develop better scrutiny of early intervention work, opportunities for cross-departmental support and voluntary and community sector partnerships in the delivery would be important to explore.”

The Chief Inspector concluded: “This report makes five strategic and five operational recommendations for improvement which, if delivered, will help the YJA to work with partners to further enhance the important support and services it currently provides.”