Looked After Children in Contact with Youth Justice Services

YJSs have a statutory responsibility to ensure that an Appropriate Adult service is provided for children and young people.

Providing an Appropriate Adult for young people under 18 years at the Police Station:

Whenever the police detain a child (aged 10 to 17), or interview them as a voluntary attender, they must inform an Appropriate Adult as soon as is practicable and ask them to attend.

The following people can be an Appropriate Adult:

• Parent or guardian;
• If the young person is in local authority care, or is otherwise being looked after under the Children Act 1989 a person representing that authority or organisation;
• A local authority social worker;
• A YJS worker;
• Another responsible adult aged over 18.

A person should not act as Appropriate Adult if:

• They have received admissions or denials about the offence(s) before they act as Appropriate Adult, or are a victim or witness to the offence(s);
• They are suspected of being, or known to be, involved in the offence(s) concerned;
• A parent who is estranged from the young person, if the young person objects.

The presence of an Appropriate Adult is required:

• When the young person is informed of their rights;
• During a strip or intimate search;
• During police interview;
• When fingerprints or samples are taken;
• When the detained person is part of any identification procedure;
• At the point of charge.

Detention can be very stressful, so it is important that an Appropriate Adult attends as soon as possible to minimise the amount of time the child or young person spends in detention. Case management guidance (Youth Justice Board) requires attendance within two hours of the initial request being made (however research has shown that young people wait 5 hours on average for an Appropriate Adult to attend).

A parent or guardian should be considered in the first instance. They may need reassurance or practical assistance to attend the police station and to understand the nature of the role of an Appropriate Adult. Every person acting as an Appropriate Adult should be given a copy of the Guide for Appropriate Adults. 

It is especially important that children and young people who are identified as having mental ill health or learning difficulties are properly supported. In such cases it might be preferable for the Appropriate Adult to be a trained professional rather than a relative. However, if the child prefers a relative or objects to a particular person their wishes should, if practicable, be respected.

The Appropriate Adult's role is to protect the interests of the child, to advise and support them, and ensure that they are fairly treated and their needs met. In particular they should be aware of and able to support any:

• Mental health needs;
• Learning and communication difficulties.

The Appropriate Adult's key roles and responsibilities are to:

• Ensure that the detained person understands what is happening to them and why. It is important to take into account any mental health problems, learning difficulties and speech, language and communication issues;
• Ensure that the detained person understands their rights;
• Support, advise and assist the detained person, particularly while they are being questioned;
• Observe whether the police are acting properly, fairly and with respect for the rights of the detained person;
• Facilitate communication between the police and the detained person - the Appropriate Adult plays an important role and must be pro-active in undertaking their responsibilities. The role is not one of simply observing proceedings in the police station.

The Appropriate Adult should let the child know how to access legal support and can insist that this is provided even if the child refuses it. It is not the role of the Appropriate Adult to provide legal advice. Conversations between the Appropriate Adult and the child are not covered by legal privilege - meaning they may need to be divulged as part of any subsequent legal proceedings.

For more information on Appropriate Adults, including their role in supporting children and who can fulfil this role please see the National Appropriate Adult Network website.

Custody staff, YJS workers and Appropriate Adults should be alert to the needs of children whose alleged criminal activity may be related to their having being trafficked into the UK or groomed locally for exploitation. Where the child's history suggests they may have been trafficked into the UK or groomed into exploitation, the local authority must establish whether a referral has been made under the national referral mechanism (NRM) and make such a referral where this has not been done.

Within 5 working days of the child's sentence to custody, the social worker should provide the following information to the YJS case manager and the designated case supervisor within the establishment:

• The child's care status, including their entitlement to support as a care leaver;
• Persons with Parental Responsibility;
• Name and contact details of the allocated social worker, their team manager and the IRO;
• Any immediate information necessary to ensure the child's safety or that of others;
• Information about the child's family/carers and contact arrangements;
• Information about the child's needs that will enhance the establishment's ability to care for the child;
• The date when the social worker or local authority representative will be visiting the child; and
• The date of any forthcoming review of the child's case.

For children who remain looked after while in custody (i.e. children subject to care orders under Section 31 of the 1989 Act) the care planning and review process continues.

Placement in YDA is a significant change. If a review of the child's care plan is not already due to take place, then it is a requirement that one should be scheduled during the period the child is in custody. The usual statutory timescales for review apply thereafter. Depending on the length of the child's detention, consideration should be given to undertaking a review within the last month before release to ensure the child's care/pathway plan can be updated to meet their needs on release, particularly their placement needs.

A person within the custodial establishment should be nominated to act as the link with the care planning process. This may be the child's case supervisor, but it is good practice to give the child an element of choice wherever possible. This link person will be informed of the key elements of the child's care plan and, in turn, keep the child's social worker informed of the child's progress and events within the establishment.

The child's home YJS case manager should also be kept informed of changes to the child's care plan and other relevant information. Subject to the child's agreement, the YJS case manager and the nominated link person within the establishment should be involved in review meetings.

The Reviews must:

• Be a child-centred process and, within the limitations that will be apparent, take into account how the child wants their review meeting to be managed;
• Ensure that the establishment is taking into account the child's identity and cultural needs;
• Take the child's wishes and feelings into account;
• Focus on whether the arrangements in place are appropriate for the child's needs whilst they are detained;
• Look at the quality of contact with the local authority;
• Ensure that contact arrangements for the child are appropriate;
• Ensure that there are arrangements responding to the child's health, education and training needs;
• Consider whether Accommodation will be required when the Remand / Sentence period ceases.

The child's allocated social worker must visit the child within 5 working days of being sentenced and detained.

Subsequent visits must take place at intervals of not more than 6 weeks for the first year; thereafter at intervals of not more than 3 months. Additional visits should take place if reasonably requested by the child (or young person if they turn 18 while in custody), the establishment or the YJS, or there are particular circumstances that require a visit (e.g. notification of under performance of placement provider/concerns about the safety or welfare of the child or young person).

In addition, where the child is serving their sentence in a Secure Children's Home or Secure Training Centre, a visit should also take place if there has been a notification by the Ofsted Chief Inspector of the underperformance of a placement provider (under Section 30A of the Care Standards Act 2000 or under Section 47 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994) or, where the child is placed in a Young Offenders Institute, concerns about the welfare or safety of children are raised by HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

The purpose of the visits is to keep in touch with the child, assess their needs and maintain an up to date care plan. The youth detention establishment should facilitate the visit and allow the child to be seen in privacy (out of hearing of an officer), unless the child refuses. Representatives of the local authority will be afforded the status of professional visitor rather than the more limited access to the child that applies to social visitor.

Each child detained in a secure setting must have a sentence plan, supervised by the YJS case manager. Sentence planning is different from care or pathway planning and is designed to plan the activities the child will engage in during their time in custody and, for sentenced children, on release into the community. It is aimed primarily at reducing the risk of (re)offending.

The child's social worker should always be invited to sentence planning meetings, and their professional input will be integral to effective resettlement planning. It is good practice for the child's social worker to attend as many meetings as possible but, as a minimum, they should attend the first meeting and the release preparation meeting where the release plan is discussed. For longer sentences, or where there are particular difficulties, it will be appropriate to attend more often. If the social worker is not able to attend, the local authority responsible for the child's care must provide relevant information about the child's care or pathway plan to the YJS case manager prior to the meeting.

(See also Section 7.8, Planning for Release.)

Looked After children in custody remain entitled to advice, assistance and support between visits.

The social worker should keep under review whether the child is safe and whether, in view of the authority's assessment of the child's needs, the safeguarding arrangements in the custodial establishment are adequate; and whether the establishment has arrangements in place to respond appropriately to the child's needs and to promote their welfare:

Specific factors to take into consideration will be

• Is the child safe?
• Is there a risk of self-harm?
• Does the child need money, clothes, books or other practical support?
• Are education staff aware of and able to meet the child's educational needs, including any special needs?
• Are the health unit and wing staff aware of, and able to meet, the child's health needs?
• Are staff aware of, and able to meet, the child's religious and cultural needs?
• Is the child worried about anything? If so, what?
• What impact has the sentence had on family relationships? Does there need to be help with contact arrangements?
• What action is needed to provide for the child's placement on release?
• Are changes needed to the child's care plan/pathway plan?

This assessment should be informed by the views of the YJS case manager, staff in the custodial establishment, including pastoral care, education and health staff, the child and their family. 

It will also form the basis for an up to date care plan describing how the child's needs will be met in custody and who is responsible for each aspect of the plan.

This plan will rely on local authority officers responsible for the child's overall welfare – i.e. the child's social worker, their IRO and the authority's service manager for looked after children's services - being able to satisfy themselves that the arrangements in place within the secure establishment are appropriate in view of the child's individual needs.

Children and young people in custody can be particularly vulnerable. Where there are concerns that the child is not being safeguarded or their welfare promoted (for example, relating to the quality of care the child is receiving, the suitability of the type of placement or concerns around bullying, self harm, violence or intimidation), in the first instance it may be possible to resolve the concerns by agreement with the establishment itself.

Where issues cannot be resolved at establishment level, and if the responsible authority is of the view that the young person needs to be moved to another establishment, see Section 7.7, How to Request a Transfer or Placement Review.

All custodial establishments have a 'Complaints Procedure' and social workers should ask about this at the point of the young person's admission.

The Youth Custody Service (YCS) carries out placement reviews to decide whether a transfer is required for a child or young person.

YJSs can ask for one if they are responsible for a child or young person and:

• Their circumstances change;
• There is a risk or issue with their current placement.

To request a transfer, the YJS should read the Placement Review Guidance and then:

• Convene a multi-disciplinary meeting to establish how risk can be managed or reduced;
• Complete the Placement Review Form (Refer to the Guidance and Tips document for support on completing this form);
• E-mail it to the Placement Review team at YCSTransfers@justice.gov.uk.

Other people can ask for a transfer but only the YJS and/or staff at the establishment where the child is placed should contact the YCS Placement Team.

The YCS Placement Team makes the final decision in the best interests of the child or young person after carefully considering all of the information available and opinions stated.

Children are vulnerable in the early days after release and need considerable help, both emotionally and practically, to:

• Readjust to living in open conditions;
• Meet the requirements for reporting and surveillance;
• Sort out finances;
• Settle into appropriate accommodation;
• Negotiate education, training or employment;
• Re-establish relationships with family and friends; and
• Avoid situations where offending may occur.

The child's social worker and YJS case manager must work together to co-ordinate arrangements for the child's release and subsequent support in the community. The child will continue to have two separate plans: the local authority care plan, which may include a pathway plan (or for a child who became looked after solely as a result of remand, the DPP) and the YJS plan. These must be coordinated so the child is clear what will be happening and professionals from both children's and youth justice services understand their respective roles and responsibilities for supporting the child in future and for minimising the possibility of reoffending.

If the child is to continue being looked after, the responsible authority must provide an appropriate placement and financial support. The child's care/pathway plan should be updated.

The YJS is responsible for providing ongoing supervision and interventions targeted at preventing further offending. There will be potential areas of overlap, where arrangements may be made by either the YJS case manager or local authority social worker, such as education provision or health treatment. Negotiation should take place about which service is best placed to make these arrangements in each case. The local authority responsible for the child's care will ultimately have responsibility for ensuring all measures are in place to enable the child to be provided with appropriate services.

Where a review of the child's case chaired by the IRO has not already occurred, the social worker in conjunction with the IRO must arrange for a review prior to the child's release from custody. The timing might be scheduled so that it is co-ordinated with the release preparation meeting.

As soon as possible, and at least by the time of the final sentence planning meeting 10 working days before release, the young person must be told the content of both the Care Plan and the Notice of Supervision or Licence so that they are aware of:

• Who is collecting them;
• Where they will be living;
• The reporting arrangements;
• Sources of support - including out of hours;
• The arrangements for education or employment;
• Arrangements for meeting continuing health needs;
• How and when they will receive financial support;
• When they will be seeing their social worker; and
• The roles and responsibilities of the respective practitioners.

The custodial establishment need to be able to sign the licence conditions and this has to include an address of where the child will be living. If a child is to be placed in an area that is not local to the 'home' authority then liaison needs to occur with the 'host' youth justice service in regard to the services and offer available. Therefore placement planning needs to occur at least a month before release to ensure an appropriate placement and support in the area of the placement is provided on release.

Looked after children, under sentence, returning to the community will continue to be supervised by the YJS case manager. Children sentenced to Detention and Training Orders serve the second half of the term in the community, this can be longer if they have been afforded early release. Those on other types of sentence will also be subject to supervision. The responsible authority must maintain contact with children in care during the crucial period following their discharge from custody.

The child's social worker and YJS case manager should keep each other informed of significant events, including any changes in service delivery or plans. It is good practice to have some joint meetings involving the child, YJS case manager and social worker, so information is shared, and the child receives an integrated service.

The YJS should consult the local authority over enforcement issues, particularly if there is a possibility of the child being breached for failing to comply with their Notice of Supervision or Licence conditions, the responsible authority should work with the YJS to put additional support in place. For example, it might be arranged for a residential care worker to take the child to appointments at the YJS or for a foster carer to text the child as a reminder.