CYP Now - Call to roll out Covid style small family ‘bubbles’ across youth custody

The Youth Custody Service (YCS) is being urged to consider reorganising young offenders in custody into “small family groups” after a study found they benefitted children when used during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Small groups allowed young people to better engage in activities, the evaluation finds. Picture: Motortion/Adobe Stock

Evaluation of the impact of the health crisis on youth custody found that the reorganisation of young people into small residential ‘bubbles’, “allowed more personalised interaction with staff that had helped develop relationships”.

“This smaller set-up had also allowed more children to feel safe enough to engage more generally in the regime, which had allowed also allowed for greater interaction with staff,” the evaluation found.

This is particular the case in larger populations of young people in youth offender institutions (YOIs). One YOI representative described the use of the groups as “more manageable” and said they helped develop “a more intense and encouraging working relationship with the young people”.

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