DO YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH YOUR CHILDREN?
Young people Offending and Parents Responses
WHEN a child or young person comes to the
attention of the police because they have been involved in criminal activities,
it often comes as a tremendous shock to the parents who are very upset
and sometimes feel ashamed by what their child has done.
Parents frequently blame themselves and do not know who to turn to for
help, advice and support. They are often very concerned about
what will happen to their child and what the long-term repercussions will
be on their child’s future, social life, education and career opportunities.
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Croydon YOT’s aims and objectives for Young People
WE at the Youth Offending Team (YOT) want exactly the
same things for the people within the community as their parents want.
We want to work with parents to discourage their children from offending,
getting into trouble with the and prevent them from ruining their long-term
life chances.
To do this we want to work in partnership
with parents to assist them, to help their children to have better opportunities
in life and to reach their full potential in the future.
We don’t want young children to gain a criminal record for petty criminal
offences which will give them a criminal record and could result in them
being locked away in institutions for long periods of time.
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Parenting Support
THE Government recognises that Parents are the most influential
people in their children’s lives. But parents can sometimes feel
powerless and confused if their child commits an offence. This is
why Parenting Support Workers are employed within multi-agency YOTs to
give timely support to parents.
We are on hand to offer parents advice
and support to help them come to terms with the reasons why their child
offended. About 1,000 young people are arrested in Croydon each
year, so we have plenty of experience to assist parents in a variety of
ways. We understand that different parents want different levels
and types of support.
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How we work with Parents
AT the YOT we want to work with parents
on a voluntary basis at the earliest opportunity. This will
entail either the young persons Youth Offending Officer or the Parenting
Support Worker discussing parenting support work. We will always
endeavour to find the most appropriate support for each parent and their
family. It is vital that parents are open to engaging with the support
offered. However, there are some parents/carers who for various
reasons find it very difficult to ask for help and are initially very
reluctant to understand why their child becomes involved with criminal
activities and engage with the parenting support offered to them.
This can lead to a Parenting Order being made by the court.
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 WHY
PARENTING ORDERS?
INITIALLY Parenting Orders were introduced and used as
pilot schemes in various parts of the country over a two-year period during
2000-2002. The aim of the Order is to work with Parents to
help them to prevent their children from re-offending – in other words
we want the same things as Parents want. To stop their young child from
getting into trouble with the police and ending up with a criminal record.
We at Croydon YOT want to work with Parents’ at a far
earlier stage. We are offering Parenting Support before their children
get into trouble and end up with a criminal record and a vast majority
of parents take up this support. Many parents tell us:
“I’ve been asking for this support for
years.”
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What the Law says
The Law states that a Parenting Order
should be made where a young person has been convicted of an offence,
unless there is good reason why the Order should not be made.
Initial responses to the introduction of Parenting Orders
were very negative. However, research has shown that although parents
placed on an Order were very cross and upset when the order was made -
after undertaking Parenting Support Work parents thought this was a good
thing and with hindsight were pleased that the order was made as it got
them the help they needed. The experiences of the Parenting Support
Worker within the YOT confirms these findings so far.
Research has also shown how eight out of
ten parents wanted help managing their children’s behaviour, providing
appropriate discipline and handling arguments. In addition, the
number of children convicted of an offence was significantly reduced in
the first year after their parents attended a Parenting Support programme/course.
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Requirements of the Order
THE order consists of two elements:
- To attend a counselling or guidance session no more than once a week
for a period of up to three months.
- A requirement of a parent to exercise control over their child’s behaviour
in a specific way for up to 12 months i.g. that they are home
by a certain time of night or attend school every day.
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Effects of Breaching a Parenting Order
IF a parent does not comply with the requirements
of the order then the parent will be breached and this will result
in the Parent being summonsed to court where a fine of up to £1000.00
or possible imprisonment for a period of up to six months can be imposed.
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More Information
FOR more information and enquiries please contact:
Vivian Blake
at:
Croydon Youth Offending Team,
14, Whitehorse Road, Croydon, CR0 2JA
Telephone 020 8404 5800
Leaflets
See also our leaflets for clients on Parenting
Orders and the Croydon
Youth Inclusion & Support Panel (YISP)
Visit also the website of Parentline
Plus with whom we work on partnership
Page
last revised 11th January 2004
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