In this blog, CYCJ’s Communications and Engagement Advisor Katya Allcott explores the key themes that emerged from this year’s Youth Justice conference. Delivered in partnership with National Youth Justice Advisory Group (NYJAG) and the Scottish Government it hosted over 200 practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and youth justice experts.
This year’s theme was Childhood, Safeguarding and the Children’s Hearings System. It was chosen to explore some of the practical implications of the implementation of the Care and Justice Act on the Hearings System and to understand the concept of contextual safeguarding and what it looks like in real life.
Thank you to our fabulous line up of speakers who expertly took us through these subjects; Professor Carlene Firmin, Natalie Don-Innes, Nicole Savage, Stuart Allardyce, Elliot Jackson, Neil Hunter, Andrew Gillies, Dr Grace Robinson, Donna McEwan, DI Craig Thomson, Ross Gibson, Orielle Taylor, and Pamela Morrison. We are also grateful to Creative Change Collective and Staf whose inputs added variety to the programme. Thank you to our chairs who expertly led delegates through the programme, John Trainor and Fiona Steel.
Not only was there a packed programme, but several important resources were announced at this year’s conference. We revealed that 2025’s Practice Guide was available – a fundamental resource for practitioners in this field. Two new resources, our e-Learning service and the Criminal Exploitation of Children: Scotland’s Framework for Practice Toolkit, were also announced by members of our practice team.
Listening:
In my position as Communications and Engagement Advisor at CYCJ, it’s my role at the National Youth Justice to conference to keep our online audiences updated with the key points coming from our speakers across the two days. I’m poised to do this, as Professor Carlene Firmin begins talking and I almost forget myself as I become lost in her powerful storytelling as she illustrates the concept of contextual safeguarding with examples based on real experiences.
Day 2’s keynote speech from Dr Grace Robinson took us through the heartbreaking story of Adam, who had been criminally exploited by gangs. The first of her key takeaways was to listen to children.
Melodie, whose speech was played to delegates during our World Congress satellite even, urged that children in the justice system are trusted and heard – that practitioners “work with us [young people]”.
Two of the workshops on the day were co-hosted by young people themselves. This opportunity for practitioners to hear directly about their experiences demonstrates the ongoing commitment to listen – but also to involve, and give power back to young people so often silenced because of their involvement with the youth justice system.
By the end of the day and a half of speakers, workshops and networking, I will have noticed this pattern: at the heart of everything we do at this conference are the children and young people we seek to support. We can learn from research, from theories and through studies but to truly understand the work we do we have to listen to children and young people themselves.
Language:
It was clear from the questions and comments from delegates that they genuinely care for the children and young people they support: but issues remain. Throughout the discussions and presentations, a recurring theme emerged – identifying that small shifts in the language used with and about children in conflict with the law could have a huge difference, both for children and in the way that people understand them. Re-framing how we think and talk about children in conflict with law, and remembering that (to quote Nicole Savage) “these are our weans”, can be life changing.
So what, you might ask? These all seem like fairly obvious observations. Practitioners are passionate, they care and to best serve the needs of children and young people we need to think of them primarily through that lens.
But it is a challenge – for practitioners with a statutory duty to uphold the safety of children and young people, there is an overwhelming number of policies and frameworks to factor in. Yet, when DI Craig Thomson was asked about what a delegate should do about a statutory duty to contact Police about a child who frequently missed their curfew, his response was that a one size fits all approach doesn’t often work. And in Neil Hunter’s assessment of risks and opportunities for the Children’s Hearings System following the implementation of the Children (Care and Justice)(Scotland) Act, he identified that a “relational, rather than transactional approach” would benefit all. Focusing on individual and welfare needs was another of the key messages from Carlene Firmin’s keynote address. The dots were connecting.
Learning:
Yet, practitioners having the passion, reframed perspectives and relational approaches isn’t enough. Proper resourcing and support was a theme that emerged through our Day 2 panel discussion, reiterating that ensuring we have high standards in our practice is as important as our passion and care. This is where CYCJ’s practice development work came into sharper focus. Alongside the publication of the annually updated 17 Practice Guidance sections, we announced the launch of an e-Learning platform that will cover a variety of topics through micro credential learning opportunities. We will be working with partners to ensure that the learning is developed by the leading experts – our first two covering the Criminal Exploitation of Children (partnering with Action for Children) and Risk and Formulation (Risk Management Authority).
The National Youth Justice Conference always aims to create a space for learning and examining the emerging issues for this community of practitioners. When we see patterns of support requests, we ensure that the conference can be a place to understand what’s going on. Practice Development Advisor Donna McEwan, when responding to Day 2’s keynote, ensured that delegates were alerted to a new framework for tackling criminal exploitation of children in Scotland, developed in partnership with Action for Children.
In bringing together this group of dedicated professionals to examine these themes and connect the dots, I believe that we’re giving them the opportunity to reflect on what matters in the work they do. Fundamentally that’s children and young people: often vulnerable, often traumatised, but always “our weans”. If we continue to listen, learn and think about our use of language, we have a much better chance of adapting to the complicated world that children and young people face today – so we can navigate it successfully together.
We want to thank everyone who attended, our workshop hosts and our speakers for coming together for such a powerful event – we couldn’t create this space without your ongoing support.
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