Council’s youth justice service praised over substance abuse work
Fiona Simpson
Friday, June 7, 2024
The work of a local authority youth justice service in supporting young people with substance abuse has been praised by inspectors.
Wiltshire Youth Justice Service (YJS) has received an overall rating of "good" following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation as part of its programme of YJS inspections.
Inspectors said they were impressed with the work of Wiltshire YJS’s executive management board who “work well to advocate for children”.
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The board “takes the time to mobilise financial resources for the service in their own organisations”, they said, highlighting the introduction of an additional substance misuse resource in response to a rise in the number of children, who access the service, using substances.
“Children attend the executive board to provide testimonies of their experiences which enables strategic leaders to hear first-hand what children think of the services they are receiving,” inspectors state in their report.
The service was rated across three broad areas – the arrangements for organisational delivery of the service, the quality of work done with children sentenced by the courts, and the quality of out-of-court disposal work. The quality of resettlement policy and provision was also separately rated as “outstanding”.
Chief inspector of probation, Martin Jones, said: “The staff and volunteers at Wiltshire YJS are the service’s most valuable asset, nurturing a ‘can do’ attitude with the children they support.
“Children’s strengths and diversity needs are attended to well, and parents and carers are empowered to take an active role in their child’s supervision.”
The inspection also found that despite the broad range of services available for children, work across court and out-of-court work was variable.
“Not all staff consistently understood or applied processes designed to keep children safe and prevent them from causing harm to others”, according to the report.
Inspectors identified some shortcomings in identifying and responding appropriately to concerns, such as children at risk of exploitation or domestic abuse.
