Supporting children’s meaningful participation in the youth justice system

In our latest Academic Insights paper, Professor Hannah Smithson and Dr Paul Gray summarise recent work across Greater Manchester which enabled the co-creation with justice-involved children of a transformative framework of practice, termed Participatory Youth Practice (PYP). The PYP principles are grounded in children’s rights and an ethos of meaningful participation, highlighting the need to help children to problem solve, to find better options, and develop their ambitions. The paper concludes with a ‘How to Guide’ for co-creation and participation. Essential ingredients are fostering equitable relationships, gaining trust, creating safe spaces, ensuring clarity of purpose, and investing the necessary time and resources.

Reflecting on his experience of using PYP, a youth team manager stated as follows:

“I find having conversations around the eight key areas of PYP really brings together what we do as a service. I use the same principles with my staff, getting them to take ownership of their team and the service we deliver, and having the confidence to say that we are a service that truly allows the kids to participate."

The paper can be accessed via the link below.