The role of youth work when supporting children and young adults in custody

In support of our latest briefing, Adultifying Youth Custody: Learning lessons on transition to adulthood from the use of youth custody for young adults, we spoke with Gess Aird, the CEO of AYJ member, Kinetic Youth for this guest blog. Kinetic use Youth Work methodologies to support young people to improve their lives, both in schools and the secure estate. Kinetic were integral to the shaping of our report: taking our research questions and designing and facilitating workshops in the child and adult custodial settings they work in, allowing us to gather the views of over 50 children and young adults. 

Adultifying Youth Custody is part of a larger project funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust that explores the experiences of children transitioning to adulthood while in the criminal justice system. 

From your experience, what role does youth work play in supporting young people in custody?  

There are two elements to this. Firstly youth work provides children and young people with a trusted adult. We meet children and young people where they are at and respond to their needs.  We have no agenda to work to, we set that with them based on their strengths, interests and what they want and we agree they need to achieve.  Our focus is always asset-based — we never work with them from the perspective of what they’ve done wrong!

The second element is: we support the young people to be ready and able to engage with services they need. They may feel injustice or anxiety for example and we can help them reflect and understand what’s on offer and how it can help them? Being the trusted adult they chose, providing a safe space to explore and grow, we become central to them accessing all of those services.

“The prison system continues to distinguish between those under and over 21 with a distinct set of rules for each cohort, although the last thematic review of young adults by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons in 2021 found that only 6% of young adults were held in the three designated young adult prisons.”

As the briefing says: “Young people transferring from youth to adult custody face a frightening cliff edge, and getting the transition right is critical to ensuring the safety, wellbeing, and rehabilitation of young people entering adulthood.”

The report outlines the changes young adults experience when they move to the 18 plus estate.  Some of these changes are structural: for example, “Establishments are much bigger, staffing ratios are lower, and there are far fewer resources.”  Others concern the quality of provision, management and contact with the outside world: for example young adults in adult prisons will experience “considerably different supervision, changes in healthcare provision, family contact and visits, and increased severity of restraint, searching, adjudication and behaviour management.” 

“Youth work provides children and young people with a trusted adult. We support the young people to be ready and able to engage with services they need.”

How does Kinetic’s youth work help young people navigate the transition from childhood to adulthood, particularly in a custodial setting?  

Lots of children grow up in very supportive environments with support mechanisms that help them transition from childhood to adulthood. This support can come from home, from school, or an individual in their life. Something or someone that gives them a degree of self-esteem or a confidence in their identity.  However, the children we work with don’t necessarily have those experiences. This is when the youth worker comes in.  

There is so much we must consider:  hormonal changes, mental health stressors, developmental processes, their situation in relation to family, friends, society, poverty, education challenges. Youth work can help fill in the gaps: from sexual health and relationships, through to money management and information about drugs and substances. We feel every single young person should have access to a youth worker.  

At Kinetic, there is a tailored curriculum we use in schools that helps inform our work in the secure estate. Then, again, it’s a case of meeting the individual where they are: can we change how they feel about themselves?  Can we change how young boys feels about women? The weight of responsibility is huge, and resources are always stretched. 

“Youth work can help fill in the gaps: from sexual health and relationships, through to money management and information about drugs and substances. We feel every single young person should have access to a youth worker.”

What are some of the biggest challenges young people face in custody, and how does Kinetic help them overcome these?  

Their perceptions of injustice; they simply don’t feel listened to. They’re in an adult system adjusted to children that doesn’t understand children and isn’t fit for purpose. We hear horrific stories, for example, of a child sent to a cell for 48 hours to decide whether to own up to something or grass on someone. Can you imagine that? Yet, as adults, we expect these kids to make these decisions, self- reflect and process their feelings straight away. Young people don’t have that — most adults don’t either, let’s be honest!  

In terms of how these stressors play out: with girls, it tends to go inwards.  So, we tend to  see more self-harm, etc. With boys, it plays outward: aggression, violence. Another challenge is the reality of isolation. In a prison setting, you don’t get the same opportunities to build relationships. With how quickly the world is changing, young people miss out on social media and that kind of social conditioning their peers on the outside are accustomed to. They miss out on growth, as pre-teens and teenagers, because they’re isolated: from friends, from families, suddenly in this world where they have to pay for phone calls to their family. 

“In terms of how these stressors play out: with girls, it tends to go inwards. So, we tend to see more self-harm, etc. With boys, it plays outward: aggression, violence.”

Kinetic works with children and young adults across both the youth and adult custodial estates. What are the key differences in how young people experience these environments?

There is more support in the youth estate and always has been. There is a greater emphasis on enrichment. But in reality, there should be a lot more differences than there are.  

The emphasis in the children’s estate is on education. In the adult estate, however, it’s more about work and what you do for yourself. Something to note is there is no phased transition between the estates — you’re in one until you’re in the other. As a result, young people moving up into the adult estate are punished a lot. They are coming up from a place (the youth estate) that was, on the whole, more focused on their development, and placed somewhere (adult estate) where they must fend for themselves a lot more. 

“There is no phased transition between the estates — you’re in one until you’re in the other. As a result, young people moving up into the adult estate are punished a lot.”

What more could be done to ensure that young people receive the right support when moving from youth to adult custody?

More youth workers! Historically, in any Youth Offender Institution (YOI) or secure training centre (STC), the children know Kinetic and what they get from us. They see our colours and know who we are. As a result, we can support young people to manage those transitions because they know what they’ll get.  

In the adult estate, because it’s massive and all-pervasive, accessing our services isn’t as easy for young people. But children don’t suddenly turn into adults overnight just because they’ve been moved from one estate to the other. We need to see an adult estate that is more open to youth workers coming in and supporting the young people. 

Our organisations recently worked together on the AYJ’s report on transition to adulthood while in the secure estate—how did Kinetic help ensure that children’s voices were at the centre of this work? 

“Children don’t suddenly turn into adults overnight just because they’ve been moved from one estate to the other. We need to see an adult estate that is more open to youth workers coming in and supporting the young people.”

It started with centring the children’s perspectives first. Everything we fed into the report was based on what young people told us.. In terms of how we got those views, we ran workshops with children and young people that asked them direct questions about their experiences. We asked children from 3 YOIs, and young adults from a couple of adult institutions to participate.  

Why is participation so important in youth justice research and policy, and what are some of the best ways to engage young people meaningfully?  

Why participation? Firstly, it’s their right! It is literally enshrined in the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child!

Secondly, as children experiencing the system, they’ve got the best ideas. So many times, resources are ploughed into a new policy or practice that doesn’t work for children, and that’s a waste. When decision makers do decide to do participation, they need to commit to doing it well. If they are going to ask children their views and feelings then they need to listen and then write the policies.  

I have a third answer too! It’s also about being transparent about  who is making  decisions. We all read too many reports or policy papers that don’t properly consult the views of children but are rebadged to make it seem like they did. 

“When decision makers do decide to do participation, they need to commit to doing it well. If they are going to ask children their views and feelings then they need to listen and then write the policies.”

What lessons can we take from this collaboration to improve future participation work in youth justice?  

Youth work and participation needs more resources. As a sector we need a bigger voice. There is a lot of power at play here, we can only empower children with as much power as we have.  

There is a willingness in government to make things happen, but it needs more than that — it also needs action. In youth justice, we are nowhere near that. The government will point to Child First, but there are real challenges with its implementation. The sector is 40 years behind the youth work sector. Youth workers have been doing this work since 1949; there are lessons we can take from that experience. We need youth work to be statutory; let’s advocate for the sector and the curriculum. 

“Youth work and participation needs more resources. As a sector, we need a bigger voice. There is a lot of power at play here, we can only empower children with as much power as we have.  ”