Responsibilities of Children and Family Community Services to Former Children and Young People in Care in Custody

If the social worker has not attended Court, the responsibleOfficer  should notify the Youth Justice Team about the details of the young person's sentence, and about where and why they have been detained.   

Children and Family Community Services must appoint a representative to visit the young person. This should be a qualified social worker employed by the Service, usually the social worker or Personal Adviser who was allocated to the young person's case and was responsible for maintaining the Care Plan /Pathway Plan/Child’s Plan before they were sentenced. There may be circumstances where it would be appropriate for a residential care worker or a foster carer familiar to the young person to carry out this role. (The term 'social worker' is used here). The role must not be fulfilled by a Youth Justice Social  Worker.

Children and Family Community Services should also inform the young person's Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) of their placement in custody or secure accommodation and the name of the appointed representative.

Within five working days of the young person being sentenced, Children and Family Community Services should provide information to the custodial establishment by contacting the prison Governor or a delegate to inform them of:

• The young person's previous care status;
• Persons with parental responsibility for the young person;
• The name and contact details of the social worker and team manager;
• Any immediate information necessary to ensure the young person's safety;
• Relevant information about the young person's family/carers and contact arrangements;
• Relevant information about the young person's needs that will enhance the establishment's ability to care for the young person, especially in responding to the young person's health and education needs;
• The date when the social worker will be visiting the young person.

They should seek information from the secure establishment about how the young person has settled in and agree arrangements for them to visit the young person.

The social worker must visit the young person within 10 working days of their entering custody, unless this is not reasonably practicable. This may be coordinated with arrangements for the initial planning meeting (see timetable in Appendix A of the statutory guidance (Local Authority Responsibilities towards Former Looked After Children in Custody) for best practice reference and additional guidance.

On each visit, the social worker must speak to the young person in private unless the young person, being of sufficient age and understanding to do so, refuses; or the social worker is unable to do so, or considers it inappropriate to do so, having regard to the young person's age and understanding.

The social worker must also visit when reasonably requested to do so by the young person; a member of staff of the establishment where the young person is detained; the young person's parent(s) or person with Parental Responsibility; or the relevant Youth Justice case manager.

The purpose of the initial visit is to complete an assessment of the young person's needs whilst in custody and on release. This will take into account previous assessments that have informed the young person's Care Plan or Pathway Plan or Child’s PlanPlan and any new information from the assessments undertaken by the Youth Justice Team  or custodial establishment. The assessment should be based on the form of a single assessment Child’s Plan.

The assessment should consider the following issues:

• Is there a risk of self harm?
• What is the young person's emotional state?
• Does the young person need money, clothes, books or other practical support?
• Are education staff aware of, and able to meet, the young person's educational needs, including any special needs or abilities?
• Are the health unit and wing staff aware of, and able to meet, the young person's health needs?
• Are staff aware of, and able to meet, the young person's religious and cultural needs?
• Is the young person worried about anything? If so, what? Does the young person understand how they can access advocacy and other services to express any concerns and make their views known?
• Are the young person's parents able to fulfil their Parental Responsibility to the young person whilst in custody?
• Has there been a change in the parents' capacity to enable them to resume care of the young person on his release in a way that will meet the young person's needs? If not, might additional support be provided to enable the parents to be able to resume care of the young person?
• If it is not appropriate for the young person to return home or to become a Child in Care again, what alternative arrangements need to be made?

The young person's wishes and feelings on these matters must be sought. The assessment must also take into account the views of the young person's parents (or any other person with Parental Responsibility) and appropriate members of staff in the custodial establishment (including pastoral care, education and health staff). The views of the young person's previous carers and the IRO should also be sought. If the appointed representative is not the social worker who was previously allocated to the young person's case, that social worker's views should also be sought.

The assessment should be completed within 20 working days of the young person entering custody and should conclude with an analysis that sets out clearly the social worker's recommendations about the advice, assistance and support that the young person will need whilst in custody and on release.

The following information must be included in the assessment:

• Is the young person's welfare being adequately safeguarded and promoted (taking account of the young person's wishes and feelings)?
• Are further visits required?
• Who will keep in touch with the young person whilst they are detained? Does there need to be help with contact arrangements?
• Will it be in the young person's best interests to become a Child in Care again by Children and Family Community Services on release?

The recommendations should include proposals as to the future involvement of Children and Family Community Services , for example whether visits should be maintained whilst the young person remains in custody and on release. If parents are unavailable or otherwise unable to exercise their Parental Responsibility by providing the young person with support whilst in custody, the young person will require ongoing visits, support and practical help from the local authority whilst in custody as a Child in Need.

Options for the young person on release will be as follows:

• The young person's parents or wider family will be able to resume care of the young person on release from custody, with support from Children and Family Community Services under section 23 Children (Guernsey and Alderney) Law 2008th with continuing supervision from the Youth Justice Team;
• The young person's parents or wider family will be able to resume care of the young person on release from custody, solely with supervision from the Youth Justice Team for as long as any order continues;
• The young person will need to become a Child in Caren on release;
• The young person will not be able to return home to parents but it will be inappropriate for them to become a Child in Care again because of their age or particular circumstances, in which case Children and Family Community Services and the Youth Justice Team will need to meet with housing and other relevant services well before the planned release date to determine the arrangements that will be necessary in order to provide them with suitable accommodation and support in the community.

A copy of the report must be given to:

• The young person;
• Their parents or those with Parental Responsibility, unless this would not be in the young person's interests;
• The governor of the prison establishment where the young person is detained in youth custody;
• The relevant Youth Justice case manager;
• Any other person Children and Family Community Services considers should receive a copy of the report.

The social worker's assessment must be sent to the manager who has been appointed as designated manager to receive reports and decide how to act on their recommendations. This should be an officer with responsibility for allocating any resources necessary to provide support to the young person in future.

The designated manager must confirm that the assessment and recommended plan have been received and the steps that will be taken to implement its recommendations.

Where the designated manager does not accept the recommendations about ongoing support to be provided to the young person, it will be necessary to consult the Youth Justice manager; and also desirable to consult with the young person's former IRO and their former social worker (if not the appointed representative), before the designated manager confirms this decision.

Details of the plan confirming how Children and Family Community Services  will contribute to the young person's support in future should be sent to:

• The young person, their parents and others with Parental Responsibility;
• The young person's case manager in the Youth Justice Team;
• The Governor of the custodial establishment/prison;
• Any other agencies that would be responsible for implementing the recommendations relating to the young person, such as a provider of supported housing;
• Other relevant parties, with the young person's consent.

Where tChildren and Family Community Services  has decided that it will not be providing any continuing support, the designated manager must inform the young person, their parents and others with Parental Responsibility; the young person's case manager in the Youth Justice Team; and the Governor of the custodial establishment/prison.

Where it has been agreed that the young person will need ongoing support from Children and Family Community Services, either whilst they are in custody or following release, or that the young person will need to become a Child in Care again, arrangements should be made to maintain contact with the young person whilst they remain in custody.

Whilst the young person remains in custody, where appropriate, they should be visited in the same way as any other young person in care. That is, visits taking place at intervals of not more than six weeks for the first year and not more than three months after that. Additional visits should also take place if reasonably requested by the young person, the establishment or the Youth Justice case manager or if there are particular circumstances that require a visit. For example, it will be good practice for the appointed representative to attend the young person's sentence planning meetings or any further planning meetings to consider the young person’s care.

If young people reach the age of 18 whilst in custody, they are likely to be integrated into the adult prison.. Responsibility for their supervision will then transfer from the Youth Justice Team  to the Probation Service.

Where there are concerns that the young person is not being safeguarded or their welfare promoted (for example, relating to the quality of care the young person is receiving, the suitability of the type of placement or concerns around bullying, self harm, violence or intimidation), in the first instance it may be possible to resolve the concerns by agreement with the establishment itself. It this is not possible normal escalation processes should be followed using the Resolution of Professional Disagreements – Escalation Policy.

Children and Family Community Services  must be involved in plans for release where the plan is for the young person to be a Child in Care again or for them to be provided with support in the community from the Service, and if the young person is being considered for early release, particularly with regard to the young person's ability to cope with any additional supervision requirementsor any MAPPA arrangements that have been set on release.

Children and Family Community Services and States Social Housing should work together where appropriate to make appropriate arrangments for accmodation post release from custody. Wherever possible, arrangements should be made for young people to visit prospective placements and employment or educational facilities and to meet relevant practitioners before their release.

As soon as possible and, ideally, no later than 14 days before release, the young person must know:

• Who is collecting them;
• Where they will be living;
• The reporting arrangements;
• Sources of support - including out of hours;
• The arrangements for education or employment;
• Arrangements for meeting continuing health needs;
• How and when they will receive financial support;
• When they will be seeing their social worker;
• The roles and responsibilities of the respective practitioners.

It is essential that there is clarity about who is responsible for each element of the young person's plan and the arrangements for communication and enforcement. Chiuldren and Family Community Services should record this plan and make copies available to the young person, the Youth Justice Team, IRO, the establishment, other agencies that will be involved with supporting the young person after release and the young person's family, if appropriate.

Sentenced young people returning to the community will continue to be supervised by the Youth Justice Team. Where Children and Family Community Services  has agreed to support the young person on release, the social worker will work alongside the Youth Justice Team  during the period of supervision. The function of the social worker is to plan for the young person's care or for their support in the community and is different and more extensive than that of the Youth Justice Team.

It is good practice to have some joint appointments with the young person, Youth Justice Social Worekr and social worker, so that information is shared. The Youth Justice Team  should consult with Children and Family Community Services over enforcement issues, particularly if there is a possibility of the young person being returned to custody.. Where the young person is having difficulty in complying with their conditions, Children and Family Community Services  should work with the Youth Justice Team to put additional support in place. The social worker and Youth Justice Social Worker   should keep each other informed of significant events, including any changes in service delivery or plans.

Where the young person becomes a Child in Care, their Care Plan must be reinstated and the Placement Plan agreed with their placement provider should include information about the support that the placement will provide to minimise the likelihood of the young person committing further offences in future.