Survey finds 66% of 1,759 organisations face more demand but 83% say funding has decreased
youth services are failing to meet increasing demand during the pandemic while facing a rapid decrease in funding, a report has revealed.
The research from UK Youth, a leading charity for the sector, into the impact of Covid-19 on youth services found that 66% of the 1,759 organisations surveyed said there had been an increase in demand.
Despite this greater need for their services, 83% reported that their level of funding had decreased while 64% said they were at risk of closure in the next 12 months.
The impact of losses on this scale would have a “devastating impact” on young people at time when the personal wellbeing and mental health of many was being negatively affected by the pandemic, said Ndidi Okezie, chief executive at UK Youth. “We cannot let young people fall through the net because crucial services were allowed to disappear,” she said
The report features data gathered during the application process for the UK Youth Fund, a £2m lifeline pot that provides Covid relief funding for local youth organisations.
The pandemic has forced many youth organisations to either significantly adapt their operations through, for instance, moving online or offering extra sessions so as to remain in compliance with Covid restrictions and this has added to their financial burden.
Okezie said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has hit youth organisations in the shadow of 10 years of extreme cuts. The impact of the pandemic has had a devastating effect on young people and the safe spaces that support millions of them.”
The report calls for “unrestricted long-term financial aid” to be made available to the youth sector in order to address the sector’s “urgent and considerable” need. Ahead of the 2019 general election, the government announced a new £500m youth investment fund to address the funding shortfall in youth services but the release of the funding has been delayed due to the pandemic.
Fiona Hamilton-Fairley MBE, the CEO and founder of the Kid’s Cookery School, a charity that delivers cooking lessons to children across London, said: “We’ve got a lovely facility but we’ve got to pay our rent and utility bills or otherwise we get thrown out. Without this grant [from the UK Youth Fund], we would not be able to offer our services to so many different communities.”
Greg Pennington, junior chairman of the Community Cricket Club in Southport, said: “The pandemic has been very costly and we’ve probably spent three times more than normal to keep running in that time. We’ve never been through anything like this and we don’t have the answers but you feel a responsibility to not let your community down. We’ve managed to keep flying the flag but more people in the community are looking to us, so the next few months will be challenging.”
Elizabeth Woollam, an NHS worker and parent of two children aged nine and seven who attend cricket training at the club in Southport, said: “The club has been really great for providing them with a focus, especially given the uncertainty around schooling this winter. It’s been great for their self-esteem that they’ve been able to have positive shared experiences with their friends in a safe environment.”
A government spokesperson said: “We recognise the vital role youth services play and are providing dedicated support to help them manage the impact of the pandemic on young people.”
n the aftermath of an unconscionable act of random violence, many people are inclined to label the perpetrator “crazy.” Although the criminal may have a mental illness, automatically assigning the label “crazy” does a great disservice to people who live with mental illness every day.
In reality, somebody with mental illness is much more likely to be a victim—rather than a perpetrator—of violence.1 Calling a violent offender “crazy” spreads a dangerous stereotype and belies the complex relationship between criminality and mental illness.
The media teaches us about people with whom we do not routinely interact. This constant flow of data gives us incessant social cues about the nature of other groups of people—including which groups of people should be praised or scorned.
Media portrayals of those with mental illness often skew toward either stigmatization or trivialization. Consequently, all forms of media—including television, film, magazines, newspapers, and social media—have been criticized for disseminating negative stereotypes and inaccurate descriptions of those with mental illness.
What Is Stigmatization?
Stigma happens when some person is viewed as an “other.” A person who is considered an “other” is denied full social acceptance. Here is how one researcher, Brian Ahmedani, defined stigma in a 2011 paper entitled “Mental Health Stigma: Society, Individuals, and the Profession.”
“The most established definition regarding stigma is written by Erving Goffman (1963) in his seminal work: Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Goffman (1963) states that stigma is ‘an attribute that is deeply discrediting’ that reduces someone ‘from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one’ (p. 3). The stigmatized, thus, are perceived as having a ‘spoiled identity’ (Goffman, 1963, p. 3).
In the social work literature, Dudley (2000), working from Goffman’s initial conceptualization, defined stigma as stereotypes or negative views attributed to a person or groups of people when their characteristics or behaviors are viewed as different from or inferior to societal norms.”2
Stigmatization of Mental Illness By the Media
Stigmatization of mental illness in media is abundant. For example, certain mental health conditions such as schizophrenia are seen as being so disruptive that people with those conditions must be isolated from society.
The stigmatization of mental illness is so entwined with the media that researchers have used newspaper articles as a proxy metric for stigma in society.
Media accounts tend to focus on the individual with mental illness rather than framing mental illness as a societal issue. Consequently, media consumers are more likely to blame an individual for the illness.
People with mental illness can also suffer from overgeneralization in media portrayals. Every person with a specific mental health condition is expected to display the same characteristics or symptoms.
It’s also not uncommon for media portrayals to discount the fact that many people with mental illness don’t need to disclose their condition to everyone around
Instead, mental illness often goes unrecognized (whether by intention or not). The portrayals in the media tend to present situations where everyone in a character’s life knows about their mental illness.
Perhaps most concerning of all, the media often portrays mental illness as being untreatable or unrecoverable.
Trivialization of Mental Illness By the Media
The media can also trivialize mental illness, either by promoting mental illness as not being severe or being less severe than it really is.
For instance, many people with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa feel that their condition is made out to be less severe than it really is. This is in part because people with the condition portrayed in the media often minimize its seriousness and hide the severe consequences of the disease.
The truth is, the death rate for people with anorexia is high. In one oft-cited meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry in 2011, researchers analyzed 36 studies representing 17,272 individual patients with eating disorders and found that 755 of them died.3
Mental illness can also be oversimplified by the media. For instance, a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is often depicted as being overly concerned with cleanliness and perfectionism. However, the obsessive thoughts that drive their compulsions are overlooked or absent.
The symptoms of mental illness are sometimes portrayed as being beneficial. For example, in the popular television series Monk, the protagonist is a detective who has OCD. The fact that he pays close attention to detail helps him solve crimes and advance his career.
People who do not have disabilities can use media channels to mock people who do have disabilities, such as by appropriating mental-illness terminology. For instance, the hashtag OCD (#OCD) is commonly used on Twitter to describe one’s attention to cleanliness or organization.
Depictions of Schizophrenia in Film
Probably the most disparaging stigmatizations of mental illness in media lie in the film portrayals of antagonists with mental illness. In particular, when characters with schizophrenia are presented as “homicidal maniacs” in “slasher” or “psycho killer” movies.
These portrayals disseminate misinformation about the symptoms, causes, and treatment of schizophrenia as well as other forms of severe mental illness. What’s more, research has shown that popular movies have been shown to exert potent influences on attitude formation.
In a 2012 paper, “Portrayals of Schizophrenia by Entertainment Media: A Content Analysis of Contemporary Movies,” researchers analyzed 41 movies that had been released between 1990 and 2010 for depictions of schizophrenia.1
Based on the findings of the analysis, researchers drew several conclusions.
Most of the characters displayed “positive” symptoms of schizophrenia, with delusions being featured most frequently, followed by auditory and visual hallucinations.
The majority of characters displayed violent behavior toward themselves or others.
Nearly one-third of violent characters engaged in homicidal behavior.
About one-fourth of the characters committed suicide.
The cause of schizophrenia was infrequently noted. However, in about one-fourth of the movies it was implied that a traumatic life event for the character had been a significant causative factor.
Of the movies that alluded to or showed mental illness treatment, the most commonly portrayed were psychotropic medications.
These portrayals are not only incorrect but damaging—and for several reasons. The portrayals of schizophrenia often focus on symptoms such as visual hallucinations, bizarre delusions, and disorganized speech, and presented them as commonplace.
In reality, symptoms like decreased motivation, poverty of speech, and flat affect are more common.
Several movies have spread the false stereotype that people with schizophrenia are prone to violence and unpredictable behavior. Some films even presented people with schizophrenia as being “possessed.”
These violent stereotypes influence viewers and engender harsh negative attitudes toward people with mental illness.
24% of the characters with schizophrenia committed suicide. In fact, between 10% and 16% of people with schizophrenia commit suicide in the course of a lifetime.
Demographics is another aspect of mental illness that is often misrepresented by media portrayals of mental illness.
For example, characters with schizophrenia are frequently depicted as being white males, but schizophrenia disproportionately affects African Americans. It also affects men and women almost equally.
In a few movies, schizophrenia was depicted as being secondary to traumatic life events or curable by love—both of which are misrepresentations of the condition’s causes and treatment.
Positive Representation
Not all the information presented about schizophrenia was found to be incorrect, misleading, or stigmatizing.1 For example, in more than half of the movies that researchers analyzed, the use of psychiatric medications was depicted or alluded to.
Nearly half the characters with schizophrenia were depicted as being poor, which aligns with epidemiological data suggesting that schizophrenia is diagnosed less frequently in people of higher socioeconomic standing.
Even when some movies get it right, the negative media portrayals—especially those that are violent—of people with schizophrenia and other severe forms of mental illness still contribute to stigmatization, stereotyping, discrimination, and social rejection.
What Can Be Done?
We need a better understanding of how these messages are disseminated by the media before we can rectify them. There is limited research looking at how media promotes mental-illness stereotypes, stigmatization, and trivialization.
Nevertheless, certain suggestions have been made on how to improve the depiction of people with mental illness in the media, such as:
Analyzing mass-media production procedures to better understand the current practices, needs, values, and economic realities of screenwriters, producers, and journalists (for instance, understanding the balance between being newsworthy or emotionally arousing and verifiable).
Implementing a mental health short course when training journalists.
Including expert input from psychiatrists during a film’s production.
Preferring non-individualized descriptions of mental illness and instead focusing on the societal aspects.
Presenting mental illness only when relevant to the story.
Using mental-health terminology with precision, fairness, and expertise.
As individuals who consume copious amounts of mass media and engage with social media, the best thing that we can do is to stop using words like “crazy” and “deranged” in a derogatory or flippant fashion. We also need to remember that it’s best to avoid making a psychiatric diagnosis outside of a clinical setting.
Only a specialist can make a diagnosis of OCD, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other mental health conditions. When we give someone the label of being mentally ill without clinical evidence, we hurt people who live with mental illness on a daily basis.
Care-experienced children make up half of those placed in youth custody and children in care in England are six times more likely than other young people to be cautioned or convicted of a crime” (The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS), 2021).
NYAS has today launched a new campaign to reduce the criminalisation of children in care and care leavers across England and Wales. The ‘Trouble with the Law’ campaign urges all Police and Crime Commissioner candidates to recognise and support children care-experienced children and young people.
At present, care-experienced children make up half of those placed in youth custody. Children in care in England are six times more likely than other young people to be cautioned or convicted of a crime. Despite this, NYAS’ campaign highlights how care-experienced young people are often overlooked in local police and crime plans. The work of Police and Crime Commissioners can have a huge impact on the most vulnerable children, and the campaign demonstrates how critical it is that plans are made to support them.
Across the UK, around one in four of all identified or suspected child victims of trafficking were missing from care. The campaign seeks a child-centred approach to policing, where victims of exploitation are protected and supported, not criminalised.
The campaign asks candidates to sign up to the following pledges to:
1. Work to keep care-experienced young people out of the criminal justice system. 2. Never make policies about young people, without young people. 3. Protect victims of exploitation and missing children. 4. Campaign to end the life-long stigma of criminal records.
Rita Waters, NYAS Group Chief Executive, said “Police and Crime Commissioners have a unique and vast opportunity to change young people’s lives for the better. For too long, care-experienced children and young people have been more likely than their peers to be in contact with the criminal justice system. We are asking candidates to pledge to work with young people for a better future.”
NYAS Cymru chairs a National Steering Group called “Missing the Point” which brings together key stakeholders across Wales to develop a child’s rights approach to policing. Sharon Lovell, NYAS Cymru Chief Executive, said “I am encouraged by the level of commitment shown by Welsh Government, local authorities, the Youth Justice Board, third sector and all four Police Commissioners in Wales to reduce the criminalisation of young people in care; yet we need to do more. We have to provide every opportunity for young people in care to be protected from harm, receive preventative services, have a statutory right to a return interview whenever they go missing and be equal partners in shaping services in the future.”
You can follow our campaign and check if your local Police Commissioner candidates have signed our pledges by visiting our Trouble with the Law tracker here.
If you’re a Police and Crime Commissioner candidate in the 2021 election and would like to sign up to our pledges, please contact Joshua.williams@nyas.net
Follow the campaign on Twitter @NYASServices #TroubleWithTheLaw
FREEE Is a women’s empowerment group run by Teri George through www.3dom.social where she gives insightful help and advice to help empower women who have been through abuse. Please join her
Indeed, disclosing sexual abuse can be a very stressful process for a child, and the reactions of the child’s primary caregiver can play a key role in the child’s adjustment.
So when a mother hears her son or daughter tell of being sexually abused, particularly by a known and trusted person, it often catapults her into crisis…
Just as disclosure is a process for a child, mothers also may need time to digest the disclosure and respond in a way that does not doubt or otherwise fail to meet the child’s emotional needs…
When your child is hurting from being sexually abused and everything won’t be OK, that’s got to be the hardest part about parenting. Sometimes no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and naturally we as parents will hurt in the process…
REMEMBERER YOU ARE NOT ALONE…
As a continuation of a series on overcoming Shame
In this podcast I’m joined with Zoe Pennent aka The Sage, who shares her experience – from a parents perspective.
Kafka and the Doll Travelerwritten by the Spanish writer Jordi Sierra i Fabra. One year before his death, Franz Kafka saw in one of Berlin’s park, Steglitz City Park,a girl who was crying because she had lost her doll.
The writer calms her down by telling her that her doll had gone on a trip and that he, a doll postman, would take her a letter the next day. Based on a real life experience of Franz Kafka, Jordi Sierra reconstructs the event, albeit surrounding it in fantasy and magic.
This description comes from the memoirs of Dora Diamant, who Kafka lived with in Berlin for half a year:
Over 13 days, he brought a letter to the park every day in which the doll tells of her adventures, which he himself had written the night before.
‘Your doll has gone off on a trip,’ he says. ‘How do you know that?’ the girl asks. ‘Because she’s written me a letter,’ Kafka says. The girl seems suspicious. ‘Do you have it on you?’ she asks. ‘No, I’m sorry,’ he says. ‘I left it at home by mistake, but I’ll bring it with me tomorrow.’ He’s so convincing, the girl doesn’t know what to think anymore. Can it be possible that this mysterious man is telling the truth?’
Kafka goes straight home to write the letter. If he can come up with a beautiful and persuasive lie, it will supplant the girl’s loss with a different reality—a false one, maybe, but something true and believable according to the laws of fiction.
The next day Kafka rushes back to the park with the letter. The little girl is waiting for him, and since she hasn’t learned how to read yet, he reads the letter out loud to her. The doll is very sorry, but she’s grown tired of living with the same people all the time. She needs to get out and see the world, to make new friends. It’s not that she doesn’t love the little girl, but she longs for a change of scenery, and therefore they must separate for a while. The doll then promises to write to the girl every day and keep her abreast of her activities.
‘Please do not mourn me, I have gone on a trip to see the world. I will write you of my adventures.
After a few days, the girl had forgotten about the real toy that she’d lost, and she was only thinking about the fiction that she’d been offered as a replacement. Franz wrote every sentence of this story in such detail, and with such humorous precision, that it made the doll’s situation completely understandable: the doll had grown up, gone to school, met other people. She always reassured the child of her love, but made reference to the complications of her life, her other obligations and interests that prevented her from returning to their shared life right now. She asked the little girl to think about this, and in doing so she prepared her for the inevitable, for doing without her.
By that point of course, the girl no longer misses the doll. Kafka has given her something else instead, and by the time those three weeks are up, the letters have cured her of her unhappiness. She has the story, and when a person is lucky enough to live inside a story, to live inside an imaginary world, the pains of this world disappear. For as long as the story goes on, reality no longer exists.
One day the girl got her doll back. It was a different doll of course, bought by Kafka as a last gift for her. An attached letter explained ‘My travels have changed me.’
Many years later, the now grown girl found a letter stuffed into an unnoticed crevice in the cherished replacement doll.
In summary it said: Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.’
We’re home but we’re not really home. It doesn’t feel like it anyway. It’s now a battleground for a few hours every day and it has been for months. I ask my five year old who’s standing on his chair to sit and he growls, “I don’t want to do computer school today.” I beg, I barter, I get mad, I wonder if it’s better to log him out and let him fall behind his class, I get him in his seat, but he’s not participating.
I’ve won the battle but I’m losing the war. He throws his pencil at the screen. He’s frustrated. I’m talking through gritted because I’m beyond frustrated now too. And I’m tired. I’m tired of doing a job I’m neither trained nor equipped to do. I’m tired of fighting a war in my heart between, “my kids are going to fall behind” and “this isn’t worth the fight”. I resent that my relationship with my children now consists of a daily power struggle over school. I miss the days when cherishing the little moments came so easily. Lately I have to remind myself to be present. Because after 11 months of this, I’m gradually checking out. I’m watching my kids do the same. I miss missing my kids. I miss picking them up from school feeling refreshed and having freedom to enjoy my time with them any way I choose. I feel like I’ve sacrificed our relationship at the cost of their education. It seems too high a price to have paid. And I regret that I’ve fought them so hard for so long. Because despite the fact that we’ve done everything we can on our end to complete the required work, my son is still behind.I feel like a failure every day. Like I’m the one being evaluated.His report card doesn’t reflect the amount of blood, sweat, and tears I’m pouring into his education. It doesn’t reflect the hours I’ve spent with him at his computer or how desperately I’ve tried to help him succeed.Remote learning provides no consideration for families. It requires a fully engaged adult on both ends of the computer.
Parents have been given a full time job on top of their full time jobs. We never should have had to choose between financial stability and educating our children, forcing parents to quit their jobs. We never should have burdened students with so much while surviving a pandemic.Families deserve better than this.
Our kids deserve better than this. They deserve their childhood back. They deserve parents who aren’t burning candles at both ends to teach them their abc’s. At what point do we acknowledge we’ve asked too much of parents?
I’ve lost a year with my kids battling over school and I’m done.My seven year old and I were in the midst of our usual asynchronous day battle. I had his writing homework in my hand from school.
He’d written several full, well-thought-out sentences.But he won’t do the same for me, at least not without a fight.I told him he didn’t have to write about his best day like his teacher asked, he could write about his worst. He could write about whatever he wanted as long as he wrote a few sentences.
He said he’d get in trouble. He said he was doing a bad job in first grade. He was on the brink of tears but didn’t know why, and it hit me, instead of getting frustrated and pushing the assignment, I sat down with him at his desk in his superhero bedroom. I said “you won’t get in trouble and you can’t fail first grade, in fact, you’re kind of a superhero yourself. ”He sat up in his chair just a little and looked at me with disbelief. I said, “Do you know that no kids in the history of kids have ever had to do what you’re doing right now? No kids in the history of kids have ever had to do school at home, sitting in their bedroom, watching their teacher on a computer.
You and your friends are making history.
”A visible weight lifted from his seven year old shoulders, “What does that mean? ”I told him it means I haven’t given him nearly enough credit for rolling with the punches. I told him how proud I am of him and his friends.
That kids this year are doing the impossible and they’re doing a really great job. I apologized for not saying it sooner and more often. A little tear fell down his cheek.
We’ve thanked everyone from healthcare workers to grocery store employees but we haven’t thanked the kids enough for bearing the burden of what we’ve put on their shoulders this year. We’ve said kids are resilient, and they are, but they are the real superheroes in this whole scenario for having ZERO say in their lives but doing their best to adjust every day. We closed his school-issued laptop and spent the rest of the day playing. This was supposed to be temporary and here we are a year later still trying to hold our head above water.
This is our home and I won’t turn it into a battle ground anymore over something we can’t control. Something that no longer makes sense.
Hug your little superheroes today and don’t forget to cut them the slack we’ve given everyone else.
County Lines Comic Book: Liberty Lines Project, Sovereign Comics and Youth Unity are delighted to announce that we are launching a comic book on county lines! Our comic book is the first ever comic book designed to educate and empower children who are at risk of grooming and exploitation in the UK’s drug trade.
About Us & Our Project
Liberty Lines Project is a Community Interest Company dedicated to eliminating criminal exploitation in the UK’s illegal drug market. In collaboration with Sovereign Comics and Youth Unity, we are producing a comic book to raise awareness of modern slavery in County Lines drug trafficking.
County Lines refers to the trafficking of illicit drugs from major cities to smaller towns and rural areas using dedicated mobile phone lines or ‘deal lines’. It often involves the exploitation of children and young adults to move and store the drugs and money. You can read more about it here.
We chose the comic book form because of its direct and engaging format. The comic will run through the key aspects of County Lines, with a particular focus on the early warning signs of exploitation and ways to get help.
The comic will be distributed in schools and youth-centres, where it will provide an informative, engaging, and fun tool that parents, teachers, youth workers, and peers can use to educate young people about County Lines.
The comic is in its creation stage and we need your help to bring it to life! Our Crowdfunder is now live: https://lnkd.in/dvYGA7z
Our comic is the first of its kind – it is designed to open conversations with children, to empower them to recognise the signs of exploitation and raise concerns if they or their friends are at risk. Our narrative follows relatable characters; children will see they are not alone and that they too can become superheroes of their own stories. It will signpost readers to relevant organisations/helplines that work to support young people and their families.
We are also creating an interactive edition enabling children to explore different narratives where their choices determine the outcome of the story. We will provide copies of the comic to youth and education centres across the UK and use it as a tool to deliver training to children in secondary schools.
Any contribution, large or small will be much appreciated and help us to make this happen!
The trial and sentencing of children and young people for criminal offences engages a number of fundamental rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The rights most obviously engaged are Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), Article 5 (liberty), Article 6 (fair trial) and Article 8 (private and family life).
Which human rights instruments are relevant?
As well as the Human Rights Act 1998 and the ECHR, there are several international instruments that deal specifically with the rights of children subject to criminal proceedings.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which the UK is party, states at Article 3(1) that:
[i]n all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
Article 40(1) of the CRC provides that:
States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society.
Article 37, inter alia, prohibits torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the use of capital punishment or life imprisonment without possibility of release for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age, and provides that ‘[t]he arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time’.
The implementation of the CRC is monitored by the Committee on the Rights of the Child; its most recent set of ‘Concluding Observations’ on the UK, in 2002, voiced concerns regarding the juvenile justice system.
Other relevant international instruments include:
the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules),
the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty,
the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines).
What are the controversial aspects of the system in England and Wales?
The youth justice system in England and Wales is open to criticism on three main grounds:
the low age of criminal responsibility,
the application of laws and procedures to children that do not properly take into account their age and maturity,
custodial sentencing – its overuse, and the conditions of custody for children and young people.
What is the age of criminal responsibility?
The age of criminal responsibility is the age at which a child or young person can be charged and prosecuted for a criminal offence. In England and Wales the age is 10. This is very low by European standards: in Italy, for example, the age is 15, while in Germany it is 14.
The presumption of doli incapax was designed to mitigate the low age of criminal responsibility. Unless the prosecution could prove that a child under 14 knew that their actions were seriously wrong (as opposed to merely naughty) they could not be held criminally responsible. But the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 abolished that presumption, and now the law has no mechanism for distinguishing between serious criminal offences and what could be described as ‘playground’ or bullying behaviour by 10-13 year olds – for example, the ‘robbery’ of dinner money from a classmate using minimal force.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 further encouraged prosecution by limiting the amount of times police could administer cautions to children and young people. It also widened the circumstances in which children could be sent to custody, by creating the detention and training order (DTO). These changes made it easier for children to find themselves in court or custody at a younger age.
What special provision does the system make for child defendants?
For many crimes, children and young people are tried in the youth court, which is staffed by magistrates or a district judge and which hears cases in private in order to protect the privacy of the child. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides at Article 40(2)(b)(vii) that States Parties shall ensure that ‘[e]very child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law’ shall have the guarantee ‘[t]o have his or her privacy fully respected at all stages of the proceedings’.
However, over recent years, children have been made subject to Crown Court trial in an increasing range of cases. Crown Court proceedings are not designed for children. JUSTICE’s concerns centre on a child’s ability to participate effectively in a trial in the Crown Court, as Article 6 ECHR requires. The landmark cases of T v UK; V v UK((30 EHRR 121)) and SC v UK((App no 60958/00, judgment of 15 June 2004)) in the European Court of Human Rights have resulted in some modifications to practice and procedure. However, some argue that an alternative process is required.
Where are children in custody detained?
Children and young people sentenced to custody in England and Wales can currently be sent to three types of establishment:
Young Offenders Institutions (YOIs) – these accommodate the vast majority of child prisoners, from age 15, as well as young adults. They are Prison Service establishments, although some are ‘contracted out’ and run by private companies.
Secure Training Centres (STCs) – these are run by private companies. Concerns about the treatment of children in custody, including in STCs, were raised in the Report of the Carlile Inquiry, published by the Howard League for Penal Reform in 2006. The inquiry was set up following the death of 15-year old Gareth Myatt in an STC in 2004.
Local authority secure children’s homes (LASCHs) – these tend to be used for younger children and those assessed as particularly vulnerable. As well as children convicted of criminal offences, they also accommodate looked after children (those in care) who need secure accommodation (for example, because they run away from other children’s homes repeatedly).
When a child is sentenced to custody, the court does not decide what kind of establishment they will go to. The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB), a government body, decides what types of custodial place to purchase and where to place the majority of children sentenced into custody.
What types of problems are there with youth custody at present?
Far too many children are being sentenced to custody, the numbers rising by almost 60 per cent between the early 1990s and 2004. While custody for children remains, officially, a ‘last resort’, the chair of the YJB was recently quoted in the Guardian as saying that ‘a last resort today is substantially lower than 10 to 15 years ago’.((Professor Rod Morgan, quoted in ‘Youth Justice system is in crisis, officials warn courts’, Guardian, 25 October 2006))
Within the custodial population, too many children are being sent to YOIs, where the regime is not suitable for more vulnerable children. This was highlighted by the case of 16 year old Joseph Scholes, who committed suicide in 2002 after being placed in a YOI despite having a history of self harm.
There are also concerns about the use of practices such as strip-searching, segregation and restraint/’pain compliance’ techniques against children in custody, as were raised in the Report of the Carlile Inquiry.
Like the rest of the prison estate, accommodation for children in custody is becoming overcrowded. Overcrowding can worsen conditions in custody, putting pressure on staff and meaning that access to purposeful activities such as education and sport becomes limited. In YOIs, 15-17 year olds only have an average of 8 hours of education per week.
29 children and young people under the age of 18 have died in custody since 1990.
There’s nothing like the warmth and security of a loved one being enveloping you in their arms. The simple act of giving and receiving genuine hugs can completely change your mood. You feel loved, cared about, safe, and unique. I’m not sure there is a single action that can replicate the feeling of giving and getting a hug.
It’s a good thing that giving is the same as receiving when it comes to hugs, right? Now, science says you can be smarter for it. If you were about two feet long and weighed roughly 10 pounds, your brain would develop better. Researchers reveal kids who get more hugs have more developed brains.
BABIES AND THEIR BRAIN DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TOUCH
When we think about learning, we consider reading, studying, using our hands, calculations, and other processes. We started, as babies, we began exploring by touching things. Of our five senses, touch is the first to develop. From this, a newborn baby must navigate their new world.
According to an article from Stanford’s Medicine, Dr. Susan Crowe, an obstetrician, and director at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, outlines the nine instinctual stages right after birth.
“Birth cry, relaxation, awakening, activity, resting, ‘crawling’ (a shifting movement toward the breast), familiarization, suckling, and sleep.”
As soon as physically safe for both mother and baby, it’s time for skin-to-skin contact and guiding the baby toward breastfeeding.
Just the holding of the baby within the first hour, regardless of breastfeeding, can help in normalizing the baby’s body temperature, heartbeat, and pattern of breathing. For many babies, it also decreases the amount of crying. Simultaneously, the mother releases more relaxation hormones. This also becomes the bonding time for mother and baby. Should the partner of the mother also hold the baby, it begins the bonding time for them as well.
BENEFITS OF INFANT MASSAGE
Infant massages could be integrated into this bonding experience, as well. The same article in Stanford’s Medicine notes a wide array of benefits. According to Maureen McCaffrey, a certified infant massage instructor at Packard’s Children Hospital, these benefits consist of:
Better sleep patterns for the baby
Baby appears more aware of being loved, secure, and accepted.
Improved digestion and bowel movements
Babies demonstrate more comfort by less fussy behavior
Weight gain improves
Mother and baby appear more relaxed
Neurological function in babies is improved
Another study done at the University of Washington aimed to locate the area of the brain in which a baby registers both “felt” touch and “observed touch.” This study proves babies can discern between an actual physical touch vs. an image of a hand touching another person. The study found that by seven months old, a baby can not only understand the concept of their “self,” but also knows their body is separate from another person.
THE POWER OF TOUCH FOR BABIES
That knowledge is what established the foundation for mimicking others’ behavior as well as developing empathy. The researchers discovered through specialized imaging that touch registers in the somatosensory cortex. Depending upon if it was an actual touch, what part of the body the contact occurred in, or if it was an image, the location, and strength of the signal within the somatosensory cortex in which it was registered changed.
What was also fascinating was recognizing that the baby, before it can speak or know the words for body parts, already understands that their hand or foot moves similarly to another person’s. Through imitating how the other person moves, the baby is also able to move. It is this process which makes both imitations, and later, empathy, possible.
In a study of the opposing focus, researchers learned of detriment to children who don’t receive touch. A report in Pediatrics Child Health, published in PMC, outlines the results of various studies, one of which was the result of providing touch to children who were previously deprived. The study focused primarily on limb movement as a form of sensory stimulation. They discovered that with 10 minutes a day of handling, over ten weeks, babies “spit up” less.Overthinkers, pay attention to this one!https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.437.0_en.html#goog_975658294Volume 90%
The babies with 20 minutes of daily tactile stimulation, over ten weeks, increased in their developmental scores. In the case of premature babies, stroking their limbs, and mild limb movement demonstrated weight gain, longer alertness, more mobility, better adaptation to repeated stimuli, and awareness of their bodies. After a year, they scored high on weight and growth and motor skills and had reduced mild neurological dysfunctional symptoms.
OXYTOCIN AND HUGS
Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter produced in our hypothalamus and released from our pituitary gland. Its levels increase during breastfeeding, orgasm, and hugs.
In regards to the effect on babies and their development, oxytocin encourages bonding between a mother and her baby. This might explain why breastfeeding increases a woman’s hormone levels. It tends to foster feelings of trust, closeness in relationships, and maternal instinct or care. Ironically, this hormone was discovered by scientists at the Weizman Institute to be the construction crew for its own future paths of blood vessels while in an embryonic brain. Therefore, it facilitates the baby’s ability to produce oxytocin after the brain, his or her brain, fully develops.
While oxytocin has been nicknamed the “love hormone” or the “hug hormone,” it is more complicated than what was initially perceived. It originally was recognized as the hormone that, when released in our blood, aids in uterine contractions during childbirth and induces labor. Over time, it was discovered that it has a different reaction when it is released into the brain. It then has variable effects on our cognitive, emotional, and social behavior.
The study focused on the response of female mice, who had never birthed, toward crying babies. Initially, the female mice had little to no reaction toward the babies. They then injected the mice with oxytocin, and they began responding as a mother would. Interestingly enough, before the injection, their brain neurons were a bit scattered and unfocused.
After the injection, the neurons came together in focus as a maternal mindset would. Additionally, researchers noted that oxytocin appeared to decrease specific neurons. While hearing the cries, the oxytocin enhanced the cries and made them more important. The scientists theorize this may be related to why some mothers claim they can distinguish their baby’s cry from another.
Another study posted in the American Psychological Association tested women at various stages of their pregnancy – the first trimester, the third trimester, and the first month after birth. What they discovered was that more women with high levels of oxytocin in the first trimester bonded better with their child. The women who maintained high levels of oxytocin throughout the pregnancy and the month after developed a closer relationship with their children. They tended toward singing special songs, using more personal, specific ways to feed or bathe their baby, etc.
UNDERSTANDING OXYTOCIN AND BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
The general understanding of how oxytocin affects our emotional and social behavior is a bit complex. Essentially, if you are with an individual or group of individuals, and experience an interaction that triggers higher levels of oxytocin as a positive experience, then you will view those individuals as safe, trustworthy, and develop affection toward them. Conversely, your brain will then see others who are different than those individuals as less credible, not safe, and you will be more guarded. This is one method in which you establish your “tribe” of friends and establish who your family is.
Additionally, it may play a role in your social memory. Through the release of oxytocin, your memory views a specific event more favorably than one where it didn’t release oxytocin.
What does this have to do with hugging your child and brain development? Researchers continue to study oxytocin due to its very complex nature. However, it’s important we understand that how we perceive friends, family, and strangers and interact emotionally with each other is definitely a factor in our memory and behavior. This holds true for a baby who is newly forming their understanding of the world based on how they interpret the actions of those around them.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON HUGS AND CHILDREN
Science may still be struggling to find the formula for why touch is so important and how our brain assimilates it in regard to our development, but most parents seem to understand it regardless. The results from hugging a baby, a child, your teenager, or your spouse are ones most of us can recognize.
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