Youth Justice: SEND
Because of their age and developmental immaturity, all children and young people in the youth justice system are vulnerable. In addition to having complex learning requirements, poor educational achievement, speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN), and more untreated health conditions than their peers, a large percentage of children and young people come to the attention of youth justice services. Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are frequently misdiagnosed because assessment opportunities are overlooked, leaving many in this vulnerable population without the assistance they require to make good changes.
Our Juvenile Justice SEND initiative assists offending youth teams, the youth secure estate, and local authorities in identifying and fulfilling the special educational needs and disabilities of young offenders, resulting in more effective engagement and more positive long-term outcomes.
Since April 2016, we've had:
- Conduct workshops around the nation, teaching approximately 400 professionals from 80 local authorities who work with young people in the youth justice system.
- Created and released The Youth Justice SEND Bubble, a free online learning resource.
- Over 50 area partnerships encompassing 56 Local Authorities collaborated to assess practice against quality standards and recognize success with Quality Mark and Quality Lead certificates.
We are now delighted to announce that our collaboration with AYM (Association of Youth Offending Team Managers) will continue into 2018 and beyond, providing support, guidance, and reward for Youth Offending Teams and their associated local service providers in order to secure better outcomes for young people and children with special education needs in the youth justice system.
The Department for Education supported the Youth Justice SEND Programme 2016-18, which built jointly on the pioneering work of both the Council for Disabled Children and Sheffield Futures as part of their DfE funded work in 2015-16 to help children and young people with SEND in detention.