Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2023

Our vision has been developed in collaboration with partners and is aligned to Gateshead Council's overarching strategic approach (Thrive), our Health & Wellbeing Strategy and our Children's Social Care and Early Help strategic plan.

Children's Social Care and Early Help - 'Children and young people in Gateshead enjoy their childhood and have the opportunity to THRIVE and be their best selves'.

Gateshead Youth Justice Service -'We will ensure a child centred approach recognising the needs and rights of every young person and their potential to make constructive, positive change and engage with their community'.

Child first 

Gateshead Youth Justice Service is committed to the Child First principles: 

1. See children as children: prioritise the best interests of children, recognising their needs, capacities, rights, and potential. All work is child-focused and developmentally informed. 
2. Develop pro-social identity for positive child outcomes: promote children's individual strengths and capacities as a means of developing their pro-social identity for sustainable desistance, leading to safer communities and fewer victims. All work is constructive and future-focused, built on supportive relationships that empower children to fulfil their potential and make positive contributions to society. 
3. Collaboration with children: Encourage children's active participation, engagement, and wider social inclusion. All work is a meaningful collaboration with children and their carers.
4. Promote diversion: Promote a childhood removed from the justice system, using pre-emptive prevention, diversion, and minimal intervention. All work minimises criminogenic stigma from contact with the system.

A guiding principle for Gateshead Youth Justice Service is to have a child centred approach in all areas of our work. We recognise that children in the justice system often have multiple and complex needs. Where possible, we seek to divert children from the justice system entirely and address these needs through diversion and prevention. Youth Justice Service staff continue to work effortlessly to ensure best outcomes for the children that we work with.

Recent feedback from an external organisation praised the child first approach the case manager had taken:

"I just wanted to pass on my sincerest thanks to [YJS Worker] and the work he has done with the young person. [YJS Worker's] dedication to his role as his YOT worker has been incredible and he has gone above and beyond to ensure the young person and his family have been supported throughout this whole process. His genuine care for the young person and his family is evident and something we have all commented on. I have worked within this field for twenty years and [YJS Worker's] is one of the very best, if not the best, YOT workers I had the pleasure to work with".

Listening to young people

Gateshead Youth Justice Service works closely with the internal Children's Rights Service to ensure the voices of children are heard. Children and young people who are in contact with the Youth Justice Service have several opportunities throughout their involvement with the service to have their views listened to and acted upon. To allow young people to contribute their views, the methods used to gather Children and Young People's views. These include:

• Young people attending the Youth Justice Service Board - Young people attend Gateshead Youth Justice Board meetings to tell their stories and outline their experiences of the Youth Justice Service. This has offered the opportunity for board members to understand the journey of the child from their perspective and has helped them to understand how their agencies have had an impact on their life. By meeting with young people face to face it has been possible to ask questions about service delivery and areas for improvement and development
• Parent/Carer Representation - Parents attend Gateshead Youth Justice Board meetings to speak about their experience of the Youth Justice Service. This has helped us to understand what works well and to consider areas for development
• Self-assessments - Case managers employ interviewing skills which allow them to support young people to explore their own story. Each young person completes a YJB self-assessments as part of their assessment which helps understand the young person's perspective and their strengths and challenges. Parents and carers also complete self-assessments which help understand how the needs of the young person's family can also be supported
• Exit interviews - Towards the end of their involvement, young people are invited to put forward their views through an exit questionnaire. This questionnaire helps us to understand what the young person perceived their order to be, what interventions they participated in and how useful they found this in avoiding further offending. Young people are also asked how services could be improved to better meet their needs
• Championing our young people - Case managers and advocates are extremely skilled in engaging with young people. By listening to the young person and putting them at the centre of all the work we do we can build trusting relationships and promote positive change. Working together with statutory agencies and voluntary organisations makes it possible to ensure that the voice of the child is heard and a co-ordinated approach to intervention is achieved. Members of the Youth Justice Service sit on various panels across Social Care, Education, and Community Safety to advocate on behalf of young people and ensure their voices are heard

Listen to me

In January 2023 Gateshead Youth Justice Service produced a Digital Me video with Digital Voice. Several young people helped to co - produce an animated film capturing their experiences of how they became involved in offending behaviours, their experiences of the Youth Justice Service and what worked for them to stop offending.

The video was scripted and animated by the young people. Key themes around peer pressure, substance misuse and education were reoccurring issues that the young people have experienced. The young people told us that building trusting relationships with their cases managers was important to them, this enabled them to move forward and understand how to change their behaviour.

Link to Digital Me video on Youtube

Gateshead Youth Justice service wanted to co-produce this piece of work so it would help other young people avoid offending behaviours. Using the young people to voice the script was important as there are very few resources available with local accents, it was felt other young people listening to this would be able to easily identify with it.

This video has been shared across Gateshead Children's Social care, it is being used as a training tool and as a resource for working with young people at risk of offending. It has also been shared externally with partners and other services so other children, young people, victims, and the general public can see the positive impact Gateshead Youth Justice Service has on young people.