Scottish Government

Introduction

There is a small but significant number of children and young people who present a risk of serious harm to themselves and others, and who have complex needs. This includes children and young people involved in sexually harmful behaviour, sexual offences and violence. We have to reduce the risk to the community and give these children and young people the opportunity to change their behaviour and become positive contributors to society. Meeting the needs of these young people, in addition to any essential controls necessary to protect individuals and manage the risks they pose, is necessary to safeguard them and their communities. Care for this group should be high quality, and approaches and programmes should be effective. Those who work with them need to have a high level of expertise.

Young people who present a serious risk of harm also present a serious challenge to society. Not only may they threaten and damage communities and properties, their actions may have a devastating impact on their lives and those of others. At the extreme, people may die, be sexually abused or assaulted. It is the responsibility of us all to take steps to ensure that risks are managed effectively and that communities and people are protected. Some young people may have to be protected against themselves.

Following a series of reports and investigations into high profile cases the Government has committed to promote good practice on what action and procedures should be put in place both to provide that protection and where it fails to ensure that subsequent risks are properly managed. Practitioners have sought this information and the measures set out in this document are designed to support self assessment and help those agencies and professionals working with young people who present a serious risk to strengthen their procedures and strive for excellence.

Across the world, there is a dearth of advice and guidance in this area. The work undertaken collectively by agencies, practitioners and the Scottish Government to develop this document is establishing a standard of action in this area. This document represents the start of a process of improvement and the advice and guidance will be refined in the light of practitioner experience and a developing knowledge base.

Setting the context

The information within this document must also be seen in the context of the Government's aim, as set out in the National Performance Framework, of giving young people the best start in life and improving the life chances of all children, young people and families, especially those at risk. Improvement in this area will make a major contribution to delivering the solidarity and social cohesion that must underpin economic growth. This approach is supported through the Early Years and Early Intervention Statement ¹ developed jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA.

As agreed in the Concordat between central and local Government, all young people should be successful learners, responsible citizens, effective contributors and confident individuals. This is the foundation of both Curriculum for Excellence and Getting it right for every child. In order to achieve these 4 capacities, action should be directed at ensuring that children and young people are healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, safe, included, respected and responsible. This approach applies to all children and young people across the spectrum of need, including those who are most at risk either to themselves or others. While it is right and proper that this guidance focuses on the group of children and young people who present the greatest risks, the measures and actions sit within the wider context of work to support children and young people as a whole. Many of the proposed actions for professionals in this document are equally applicable in the broader approach being promoted to support children with a wide range of less acute needs and risks. Over time, the aim will be to embed this approach in all activity with young people through culture change, systems change and practice change. For the moment, it is critically important that it is adopted for working with children and young people who present a risk of serious harm.

Reducing offending

The Scottish Government is developing a joint framework for reducing offending and reoffending by children and young people with those agencies and organisations who work with this group. The intention is that this framework will set out a joint vision of what national and local agencies who work with children and young people who offend, or who are at risk of offending, should do to prevent, divert, manage and support behaviour change. It will encourage new ways of working that aim to ensure agencies can provide children and young people who offend or behave badly with the help they need to turn their lives around and ensure long term benefits for these children and young people and the communities in which they live.

This document forms part of the work being taken forward to support the management of risk of serious harm. This and other actions under this heading are the result of recommendations made in various reports and reviews on youth justice or the care and treatment of children and young people who pose a risk of serious harm to others.

When decisions are made in the Children's Hearing System about children and young people who offend, their welfare is the paramount consideration for any children's hearing or court. Similarly, where a child or young person is 'looked after' (in terms of the Children's (Scotland) Act 1995), their welfare is the paramount consideration for the local authority. However sections 16 and 17 of the Children's (Scotland) Act 1995 provide that a children's hearing, court or local authority may take a decision that does not have welfare as the paramount consideration where this is necessary to protect members of the public from serious harm (whether or not physical harm).

Agencies should focus on the identification, assessment, planning and management of this group of children and young people. Those working with this group of children and young people must take into account both the needs and risks of a child or young person who presents a risk of serious harm. Identification, assessment, planning and management should be tailored to the needs, age and stage of development of the individual child or young person. This approach is fully compatible with that being promoted under Getting it right for every child where risk and need are seen as two sides of the same coin and planning is based on both the analysis of the risk and needs, and the resilience factors present in the young person's circumstances. This guidance concentrates on what needs to be done, within that approach, where the risks are high.

How the document has been developed

This document has been developed in collaboration with the High Risk Offenders Expert Group of the Youth Justice Improvement Programme ² and in consultation with managers and practitioners. It has been designed to enable all agencies to demonstrate as a first step that they have in place the processes and staff competence to meet the child or young person's needs and to reduce risks for the community, staff and the child or young person and their family. The process takes account of the current stage of development of services for children and young people who present a risk of serious harm and allows for and encourages innovation.

Some of the activities described will already be in place and are relevant for any child with needs and risks. Agencies will be building on already sound foundations of child care services in order to meet the specific needs and manage the risks presented by these children and young people.

This document also sets out how agencies involved with children and young people who present a risk of serious harm should be working together, sharing information and assessing and reviewing circumstances. The guidance is in line with the planning approach being promoted under Getting it right for every child³ in order to improve outcomes for children and young people, including managing the risks young people present to communities or individuals and/or to themselves.

Who is the document for?

The information in this document will be of use to statutory and non statutory agencies charged with providing a service to children and young people who present a risk of serious harm. It will be a benefit to managers and practitioners working in this field. The evidence collected through the self assessment as set out in this document can also be used to demonstrate to inspection agencies what work is being undertaken and to what standard, and support community accountability and reassurance.

In cases where Local Authorities commission other agencies to provide a service for young people who present a risk of serious harm it would be expected that the commissioned service would follow the good practice described in this document and that service level agreements are drawn up to reflect the outcomes agreed upon.

Although statutory and non statutory partners have a collective responsibility to meet needs and manage risks when working with a child or young person, it is anticipated that only the agencies who provide direct support will complete the self assessment. However no single agency will be effective in this field without collaborating with others. All agencies who have a role to play should be aware of their responsibilities and the importance of their contribution to the required outcomes within the Child's Plan. Further information on statutory responsibilities can be found in Section 8 under the heading 'Agency Accountability'.

Each local authority will have its own multi agency planning structures for children's services involving Child Protection and Youth Justice. These structures will need to adapt to support all children under the Getting it right for every child approach. In the meantime, in advance of any wider structural change, the information and practice changes contained within this self assessment should be incorporated into any current or developing planning structures in order to manage the harm caused by children and young people who present a serious risk. This will enable agencies to demonstrate that they are following current good practice however there is no formal requirement for agencies to use it. It has been designed to encourage agencies to develop innovative practice and acknowledges that this area of work does not have many well researched approaches from which to select interventions.