Youth Justice Worker - Details of Standard
Occupation summary
This occupation is found in Youth Offending Services within Local Authorities. It is also relevant to practitioners working in voluntary sector organisations providing youth justice interventions.
An employee in this occupation will be responsible for the effective supervision of children in contact with the youth justice system. Practitioners will function largely autonomously to engage with children, their families and other professionals in order to assess their needs using mandatory YJB tools; develop youth justice intervention plans; and review and monitor progress. The cases they manage are often complex, involving children experiencing mental health difficulties, substance misuse problems and/or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Many of these children will also be experiencing difficult family situations and face safeguarding issues pertinent to youth justice. Youth justice practitioners are responsible for making decisions which affect the lives of children that are evidence-based, ethical and defensible. They will also be responsible for promoting the safety and wellbeing of the children they work with; protecting the public and victims of crime; and making rapid risk assessments about their own safety. They will report to an Operational Manager and have formal supervisions to discuss their decision-making and reflect on the outcomes of their work.
Many practitioners will have responsibilities for specific areas of youth justice work – education, intensive supervision and surveillance or substance misuse, for example. They will advise other staff in these areas, carry out additional specialist assessments and lead on new initiatives.
Occupation duties
DUTY | KSBS |
|---|---|
Duty 1 Work with children between the ages of 10 and 17/18 who offend or who are at risk of offending using knowledge of youth justice legislation and corresponding guidance. | |
Duty 2 Promote resilience and support the positive development of children using in depth knowledge of child and adolescent development, emotional and mental health, and adverse childhood experiences. | |
Duty 3 Engage positively with children and their families in a manner that balances the dual roles of control and care, sanction and treatment. | |
Duty 4 Promote desistance from offending using a range of practice skills and strategies (e.g. promoting trust, pro-social modelling and problem solving) | |
Duty 5 Assess children’s needs using tools standardised for and specific to youth justice | |
Duty 6 Develop, implement and monitor youth justice intervention plans that are linked to outcomes from assessment, evidence based, appropriate to the child’s developmental stage and easily understood by them. | |
Duty 7 Design and deliver interventions that are informed by the best available evidence of effective programme design and implementation as validated by the Youth Justice Board in their resource and evidence repository | |
Duty 8 Monitor and review the impact of approaches and interventions and adapt practice accordingly. | |
Duty 9 Broker access to constructive support and services for children provided by other agencies though the use of social advocacy. | |
Duty 10 Collaborate and share information with other agencies in order to develop plans that meet a child’s needs. | |
Duty 11 Undertake specialist, mandatory youth justice assessments that demonstrate the contextual aspects of risk, i.e. risk of what, to whom and circumstances in which risk is likely to be higher/lower. | |
Duty 12 Manage the risk presented by children in order to reduce future offending, protect the public and the rights of victims. | |
Duty 13 Minimise the impact of life changes and transitions between services that are specific to children. | |
Duty 14 Support the resettlement of children when they leave custody and the transition from youth justice services to adult probation providers/adult secure establishments. | |
Duty 15 Protect the rights of children, reduce disproportionality and promote equality of opportunity within the youth justice system in line with the policy and legislation relevant to the age group. | |
Duty 16 Promote the safety and wellbeing of children in line with national and local guidance and procedures. |
KSBs
Knowledge
K1: Legislation and corresponding guidance relevant to all aspects of work in youth justice, including sentencing, risk of harm, safeguarding, children’s rights and equality and diversity.
K2: Child and adolescent development and the full range of complex needs that can be detrimental to children’s physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing.
K3: The range of factors (e.g. substance misuse and adverse childhood experiences) that may lead to offending and anti-social behaviour and the methods for promoting desistance from these.
K4: The principles of professional judgement, including defensible decision making, how to guard against conscious or unconscious bias and how to maintain professional boundaries.
K5: The key components of relationship-based practice and the evidence-base for them.
K6: The range and purpose of assessment and planning tools relevant to working with children in the youth justice system.
K7: The range and type of services available for children in the youth justice age group, including adult service providers and how these work in relation to young people who are in transition to them.
K8: Protocol and process arrangements in working with multi-agencies, including the sharing and safeguarding of information in line with data protection law.
K9: The emotional and practical needs of specialist groups of young people, e.g. Looked After Children, girls, LGBTQ+, BAME
K10: The practical, emotional and psychological impact of key types of life changes and transitions between services affecting children up to the age of 18.
K11: Barriers to children’s effective engagement with youth justice interventions.
K12: The contextual aspects of risk (risk of what, to whom and circumstances in which risk is likely to be higher or lower).
K13: Their own safeguarding responsibilities and those of others within and outside of their organisation.
K14: The principles of effective programme design and implementation for reducing offending and reoffending
Skills
S1: Communicate effectively face to face and in writing (including digitally) with children who encounter the youth justice system
S2: Identify the factors that may lead to offending and anti-social behaviour and the methods for promoting desistance, and use these to plan individually tailored interventions.
S3: Promote the physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of children in the youth justice system by recognising and building on strengths, identifying need and taking action to protect children where necessary.
S4: Use a range of engagement skills to promote trust, including clarification of role, purpose of intervention and boundaries of authority.
S5: Develop relationships that are collaborative, motivating and child-centred using a range of strategies to engage young people and families (e.g. motivational interviewing, solution focussed methods, participatory practice, pro-social modelling and problem solving).
S6: Make effective use of assessment and planning tools designed for use in youth justice settings to inform decision making.
S7: Develop, implement and monitor plans which reflect risks and needs, and build on positive human and social capital to promote desistance.
S8: Select interventions and approaches to working with young people based on the best available evidence about their effectiveness in promoting desistance from offending.
S9: Broker access to sources of human and social capital appropriate to the needs of children in the youth justice system.
S10: Be an effective social advocate for children and their families
S11: Share and safeguard information about children and their families in line with data protection law
S12: identify, assess and meet the needs of children and young people where there are safeguarding concerns
S13: Reflect on practice within evidence-based frameworks in order to continuously improve outcomes for children in the youth justice system.
S14: Identify any barriers to children’s effective engagement with youth justice interventions and take steps to remove or mitigate these.
S15: Actively protect the rights of children, challenge disproportionality and promote equality of opportunity
S16: Keep accurate and timely records of all interactions relevant to the assessment, planning, implementation and review cycle.
Behaviours
B1: Show consistency and fairness and be evidence-informed in making decisions.
B2: Model and reward pro-social behaviours, including respect for diversity and being inclusive, and discourage inappropriate language and behaviours
B3: Be optimistic and hopeful; non-blaming; open and honest; empathetic; and patient and calm in all interactions, including situations that are stressful
B4: Operate in accordance with the legal, ethical and contractual requirements of youth justice work and maintain professional boundaries.
B5: Commit to team working and engage proactively with partner organisations and agencies to maximise the engagement of children in mainstream services and other positive activities.
Maths & English
Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level prior to taking the End-Point Assessment. For those with an education, health and care plan or a legacy statement, the apprenticeship’s English and maths minimum requirement is Entry Level 3. A British Sign Language (BSL) qualification is an alternative to the English qualification for those whose primary language is BSL.
Level
5
Duration
Typically this apprenticeship will take 25 months.