From the chapter ‘Children society fails most‘
Mark Russell, CEO of The Children’s Society
Everyone deserves a good childhood. It’s not much to ask, but for many young people, a good childhood is, sadly, very far away from their own experience.
At The Children’s Society, we fight for the hope and happiness of children and young people when they are threatened by abuse, exploitation, poverty or mental health issues. Our services offer support to those who have faced difficult challenges that no child should have to face alone. This could be witnessing violence at home, parental alcohol misuse or being forced to carry and sell drugs by local gangs.
The problem: prevention is not a priority
As a society, we want the future to look bright for every child, but when you look at the numbers, it’s clear that there are major issues with which this generation of children has to grapple, as 4.3 million children are living in poverty.[i]
The number in poverty is not just rising, it is deepening, with 600,000 more children slipping into severe poverty compared to 2010.[ii] Our own research shows that children’s well-being is also in decline. In the UK, a decade ago 173,000 10- to 15-year-olds were unhappy with their lives; now the number is 306,000.[iii]
While the number of children referred to children’s services has not changed that much over the last ten years, the list of issues they experience is ever-expanding. Since 2016, more than 21,000 children have been referred for support as potential victims of modern slavery, including for the reason of criminal exploitation.[iv] And in 2021 alone around 20,000 occasions of child sexual exploitation were identified in assessments of children referred to children’s services.[v]
This list of statistics and negative experiences can go on and on, but what it doesn’t tell us is how many uncounted children are facing this array of issues all together, day in, day out, or how one issue can so easily escalate into another.
In our work, we see how normal it is for different services to independently and uncoordinatedly come into contact with a child, each attempting to do their bit; but so often these interventions do not see, let alone address, the bigger picture. Moreover, they rarely allow space and time to build relationships to understand the depths of the risks and vulnerabilities that children face.
All too often we witness the fallout and what happens when children aren’t given early or sufficient support. Things escalate. We see that systems are too quick to dish out a punitive response and demand that children change their behaviour. You only have to look at the high rates of school exclusions and youth justice statistics to see this in reality.
These patterns repeat again and again in many of the stories told by the children we work with. For example, we advocate for children who are exploited by criminal groups, often to deliver drugs from one area of the country to another – known commonly as ‘county lines’. We know that when caught the criminal justice response is highly unlikely to include the advocacy services that we offer; and consequently, without someone there to connect the dots about the young person’s earlier experiences, or the evidence of exploitation or the failure of other public services, true justice will not be delivered.
In our current system it is way too easy to label a child as a ‘young offender’ and blame them for reaching that crisis point in their life. Sometimes the youth justice response is even framed as the only way to keep them safe.
While the number of children in contact with the youth justice system has decreased in the last ten years, in 2021 there were still just over 49,500 arrests of children (aged 10 to 17) for notifiable offences; and just over 38,500 proven offences were committed by children.[vi] If we look at the nature of the offences committed, there is real cause for concern, especially around offences related to the possession of weapons, violence, drug offences and robbery. For example, there has been a 16 per cent increase in first-time entrants committing possession of weapon offences over the last ten years.[vii]
It is deeply concerning not only because these are serious offences, but also because we know from our work that these offences often happen as a result of a child being criminally exploited. Worryingly, there are no official statistics available on how many of these children were considered to be the victims of child criminal exploitation.
These children were failed by state services that did not intervene early enough to prevent the issues escalating to the point of a child being arrested for the serious criminal offence.
Recently published research by the Department for Education exploring the education and social care background of children cautioned or sentenced highlights some very poignant points, and leads to some important questions for us all.[viii] It reveals that eight out of ten children cautioned or sentenced had special educational needs (SEN), and this grows to more than nine in ten for children who are considered to be prolific offenders. Their most prevalent needs are for their social, emotional and mental health, and through behavioural, emotional and social support. However, none of this is considered once they find themselves in the youth criminal justice system. By then, it’s too late.
The research goes on to show that children who had been cautioned or sentenced for an offence were more likely to be both suspended and permanently excluded from school than other pupils, with children whose offending had been prolific having the highest proportion of suspensions and permanent exclusions. There is a very pronounced pattern for suspensions, with 74 per cent of children cautioned or sentenced for a serious violent offence having been suspended from school over a year before their first serious violence offence, and with 59 per cent receiving their first school suspension over two years before.[ix] The same pattern is seen for permanent exclusions from school: 44 per cent received their first permanent exclusion over a year before their first serious violence offence, with 29 per cent receiving their first permanent exclusion over two years prior to such an offence.[x]
Similarly, children in the offending groups were more likely to be known to children’s services than their peers and have higher representation of pupils from minority ethnic groups. The inherent problems of racial biases in the youth justice system are well known.
Finally, the report shows that most children who have been cautioned or sentenced for a serious violent offence had been recorded as a child in need (64 per cent) or having a child protection plan (57 per cent) or have experience of the care system (60 per cent) before their first serious violent offence.[xi] In addition, pupils from minority ethnic groups (including White minorities) were overrepresented among children who had been cautioned or sentenced for an offence.
All these statistics not only point out that the state’s systems fail some of the most vulnerable children in our society, but they also clearly show that the support is not available when help is first needed. It seems prevention is not a priority when it comes to investing public service monies.
This confirms what we already know: that thresholds that trigger the delivery of social care support are way too high and vary too much across the country. Consequently, thousands of children and families need support, struggling on their own, because the system is reactive rather than intelligently proactive. It is a system designed to respond rather than prevent; and yet, response is more expensive for society, more consequential for families and worse for children’s lives than it ought to be.
The systems (and what triggers offers of support) clearly need to change.
Our solution: joined-up, pre-emptive services
There are things that we know can make a real difference, including having easy access to early help for families with teenagers who have mental health challenges and for those living in poverty or being groomed for exploitation. We also know that long-term relationship-based support from a trusted professional for adolescents experiencing complex needs makes a difference. As does support offered at ‘reachable’ moments for young people, for example when a school exclusion is being considered or at the point of arrest. These services already exist; it is just that they aren’t targeted or instigated when most effective.
Having family and child friendly national policies would also make a real difference to children and prevent issues escalating and them becoming more vulnerable to being exploited for criminal acts. There are a number of policy areas, such as poverty and immigration, that have far-reaching implications and a significant impact on family and children’s circumstances resulting in social care needs. If each policy the government proposed was assessed against the impacts it will have on families and children, we would certainly improve the lives of many children in our society.
There needs to be a radical overhaul in how we support children, especially those who are currently ending up in the youth justice system. First and most importantly, siloed systems such as social care and education need to work together better to intervene and address the issues in a child’s life at the first signs of problems emerging, to prevent them entering the youth justice system altogether. Second, for a child who hasn’t had this early intervention or support, they need a more child-centred and trauma-informed approach to help support them to rebuild their lives.
Every child deserves a good childhood, and with some joined-up services, proper investment and child-focused policies we might just be able to give every child the hope, opportunity and bright futures that each of them deserves.
Notes
[i] DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) (2021) Households Below Average Income: An Analysis of the Income Distribution FYE 1995 to FYE 2020, Table 1.4b, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020/households-below-average-income-an-analysis-of-the-income-distribution-fye-1995-to-fye-2020
[ii] DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) (2021) Households Below Average Income: An Analysis of the Income Distribution FYE 1995 to FYE 2020, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020/households-below-average-income-an-analysis-of-the-income-distribution-fye-1995-to-fye-2020
[iii] The Children’s Society (2021) The Good Childhood Report 2021, London: The Children’s Society, www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-08/GCR_2021_Full_Report.pdf
[iv] Home Office (2022) Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, End of Year Summary, 2021, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2021
[v] DfE (Department for Education) (2021) Characteristics of Children in Need: 2020 to 2021, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2020-to-2021
[vi] YJB (Youth Justice Board) and MoJ (Ministry of Justice) (2022) Youth Justice Statistics 2020/21, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1054236/Youth_Justice_Statistics_2020-21.pdf
[vii] DfE (Department for Education) (2021) Characteristics of Children in Need: 2020 to 2021, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2020-to-2021
[viii] DfE (Department for Education) and MoJ (Ministry of Justice) (2022) Education, Children’s Social Care and Offending: Descriptive Statistics, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1059556/Education_children_s_social_care_and_offending_descriptive_stats_FINAL.pdf
[ix] DfE (Department for Education) and MoJ (Ministry of Justice) (2022) Education, Children’s Social Care and Offending: Descriptive Statistics, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1059556/Education_children_s_social_care_and_offending_descriptive_stats_FINAL.pdf
[x] DfE (Department for Education) and MoJ (Ministry of Justice) (2022) Education, Children’s Social Care and Offending: Descriptive Statistics, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1059556/Education_children_s_social_care_and_offending_descriptive_stats_FINAL.pdf
[xi] DfE (Department for Education) and MoJ (Ministry of Justice) (2022) Education, Children’s Social Care and Offending: Descriptive Statistics, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1059556/Education_children_s_social_care_and_offending_descriptive_stats_FINAL.pdf