Under pressure police forced to nanny kids in care homes

Police are often bogged down with responding to trivial issues concerning young people in care homes as they are called in to deal with a high volume of problems, creating unnecessary criminalisation which could negatively disrupt and impact lives. The Howard League for Penal Reform has undertaken extensive and staged research over a couple of years, looking into ending the criminalisation of children in care homes, as the rates were found to be far higher compared to children not in the care system. They worked with half of all police forces in England and Wales to fully research and investigate further and to create examples of good practice to be implemented across the board. The Howard League is a national charity looking at reducing crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.

The first briefing paper was published in 2016 and shockingly revealed 16 and 17-year olds in care were at least 15 times more likely to be criminalised, that 71% of those criminalised had emotional or behavioural health-related issues that was of alarming concern, and 70% had been initially taken into care due to family dysfunction, stresses surrounding the family set-up, absent parents and parents with illness or disability. An additional 14% had been placed into care as a result of neglect or abuse.

The report determined that, although most children in care do not end up in trouble with the police, criminalisation is happening a lot more than with young people in other settings, and residential care is an environment that could substantially increase the risk of youth offending. It is recognised that these young people are not being afforded the opportunities or given adequate support to reach their full potential, despite them still having every chance to go on to live a successful and fulfilled life away from crime. Contact with the Criminal Justice System often surfaces deep-rooted feelings of rejection and subsequent anger issues while having to deal with and contain their rejection. The long-term damage can be palpable if they are bereft of valuable support.

A second briefing at the end of 2017 highlighted the unnecessary amount of times that the police were asked to intervene in more trivial matters and effectively being asked to nanny the young people. Police forces spoken to felt that they were called upon to step in to sort out incidents the home staff should really be equipped to deal with. Some homes were shockingly calling on the police to impose punitive and controlling measures where it was not necessary. One force had been called to a home where a resident had squirted a staff member with water, another time when someone had pulled down a curtain, and often they are asked to ‘tuck the children up’ when they refuse to go to bed.

The Howard League have identified six broad areas of good practice that can certainly, if implemented, improve relations, encourage more multi and cross-agency working, and discourage unnecessary criminalisation:

Police culture – creating a child-focused force.
Data management – understanding and monitoring the problem.
Working with children’s homes – monitoring, support and guidance.
Multi-agency co-operation – providing joined-up support for children.
Regulating Children’s Homes – working with OFSTED and others.
Diversion and de-escalation – avoiding formal criminalisation.

The third briefing, published in 2018, suggests adopting two core principles – ‘hearts’ and ‘heads.’ ‘Hearts’ must consider the emotional welfare, health and needs of the young people, listening to their concerns and treating them respectfully and with dignity.

In essence, it is seeing things from the child’s point of view and how they may perceive situations. ‘Heads’ is more business-focused looked at the running of the home, training and valuing the staff, instilling robust, proportionate, justifiable and necessary measures when dealing with the police.