Skip to main content
Complex Safeguarding Wales

Safeguarding responsibilities for the Youth Justice Service

Youth justice practitioners must adopt a child-first, offender second, trauma-informed approach.

When dealing with suspected child criminal exploitation, youth justice practitioners must use their professional curiosity to embed safeguarding into routine practice.

Whole-family approaches

Child criminal exploitation has a negative impact on the whole family.

Most parents are not responsible for the criminal exploitation of their child, but they may be blamed, stigmatised or threatened by the exploiters. Youth justice practitioners should adopt whole-family approaches and work with parents, involving them in decision-making, where appropriate, as they often hold vital information about the young person.

Youth justice practitioners should be aware that the siblings of a criminally exploited young person may be at an enhanced risk of criminal or sexual exploitation. In some cases, young people inherit drug debts from parents or siblings.

Multi-agency working

Youth justice practitioners must work with other agencies.

They must have systems to record data to:

  • facilitate the identification of patterns or trends
  • analyse this information so it can be used for safeguarding and prevention.

Youth justice practitioners and probation officers must share information to identify risks to young people from:

  • older adults leaving the secure estate
  • relationships with an older peer or adult
  • controlling relationships with older peers or adults
  • older peers or adults who restrict their engagement with services.

Transitional safeguarding

Young people may continue to be exploited beyond the age of 18.

Youth justice practitioners should be aware that when young people are criminally exploited at an early age, they will be unable to safeguard themselves from persistent abuse.

Transitional safeguarding approaches are needed so that youth justice practitioners:

  • can continue to work with young people and their parents when young people are over 18
  • share information with parents, where appropriate, as parents play a critical role in safeguarding their children and remain caring and advocating for the young person into adulthood.