
The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales has promoted “child-first justice”, both a philosophy and a framework that aims to ensure children are responded to in a way that is strengths-based and focused on human rights.
In a recent article in an academic journal, we explored children's involvement in the design and delivery of youth justice interventions. We looked specifically at how the “collaboration” principle – as part of the child-first approach – was being put into practice.
Three key challenges were discovered when designing interventions or programmes with children. First, children find it hard to trust adults in positions of power due to experiences of disempowerment and may be reluctant to share their feelings. Second, when a child is undertaking a court order, they can feel opportunities to input into the process are limited because they have to comply with conditions. Third, practitioners continue to undertake adult-led assessments and court reports, which limit the time and ability to build positive relationships with children.
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