Eliciting and integrating views of children and families within the work of youth justice services: What can educational psychologists contribute?

Abstract

This study aims to explore why and how the views of others are elicited and integrated within youth justice work, and how educational psychologists (EPs) may support this. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (United Nations, 1989) highlights the right for all children and young people to express their views, thoughts and feelings on issues affecting them and for these views to be seriously considered.Youth justice services work within a ‘child first’ principle and upholding of this is partly achieved through the elicitation and integration of children’s views. Similar to this, EPs aim to ensure participation and advocacy is integral to their own work. Their experiences of working across a wide age and developmental range means EPs are well placed in eliciting and integrating views from a diverse range of groups. Semi-structured interviews with staff from two English youth justice services are used, albeit both services did not have any prior experience of educational psychology services. Thematic analysis of data identifies three global themes addressing the facilitators and barriers of eliciting and integrating views, as well as how youth justice professionals view EPs supporting them in their work.The paper concludes that there is scope within the EP role for supporting youth justice services. Future research could identify how different youth service roles might differentially utilise educational psychology service.