CYP Now’s freedom of information request to youth offending services (YOS) found that less than one in six has a policy in place for searching young people for weapons who attend meetings or events at youth offending team (YOT) premises.
The issue is contentious: a number of YOS that responded to the FoI said having a policy would undermine trust between YOT staff and young people and would be contrary to the “child first” ethos that underpins services.
Among YOS that have developed a formal policy there is a wide variation in approach. Some have developed specific policies on searching for weapons while others have incorporated this into broader behaviour contracts between the service and young people. Some are lengthy documents that detail the rationale for undertaking searches, the process that will be followed and the circumstances in which it will be used. Others are in bullet-point format over a single side of A4 that briefly outline the steps to follow during a search.
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