Sheffield action to prevent harm to young people including risks of crime and exploitation
A new youth safeguarding strategy for Sheffield aims to protect young people from harm and help to steer them away from crime and violence, including gang involvement.
The strategy was approved yesterday (January 15) by a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s education, children and families policy committee. It involves creating safe, accessible places for children and young people to have positive experiences and support with issues they face, working with communities to prevent children from being exploited and providing early intervention where there are concerns.
The strategy stresses that the voices of young people must be heard by professionals.
A report to the committee highlights “rising youth crime and violence, with first-time youth justice entrants above the national average”.
It says that school exclusions are increasing, with a significant rise in permanent exclusions, and the city has a higher-than-average rate of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).
Chelsea Renehan, council assistant director for community youth service, said: “It goes further, beyond the focus of exploitation, looking at safeguarding in its widest lens – risk or harm outside the home.”
She said research shows young people spend 85% of their waking hours outside school. “We need to make sure that space is safe, it’s alert and providing positive and engaging places, spaces to be, with trusted adults in those spaces.”
Exploitation
Coun Malekei Haybe said that he is involved in a group for mothers of children with autism. He said that one other told him she wished she knew how to identify special educational needs in her children sooner because it might have prevented her eldest son going to prison.
He added that the government papers have revealed that children with special educational needs are at least seven times more likely to be expelled or excluded from school. He said children with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) are also more open to exploitation.
Coun Haybe said that needed to be highlighted in the strategy. Committee chair Coun Dawn Dale agreed that could be added in.
Pat Butterell, assistant director for school effectiveness, said that staff are working on a SEND manifesto to highlight key issues to support children and young people.
Ms Renehan added that the council is developing a neurodiverse youth group with neurodiverse youth workers. That will use a specially-designed online closed space and will also arrange meet-ups on school holidays, in order to build up trusted and positive friendships and spaces.
Coun Mohammed Mahroof said that a lack of council funding can stop problems being picked up.
Surprise
He asked: “Is there a gang culture that we’re not aware, of because I don’t see it, but is there a surprise that will come later on? I’m just using that as an example.
“As members we need to be aware of the reality and what’s likely to come to us and the unsanitised version of it.”
Director of children and families Sally Williams said that there are budget constraints but work with children and young people has been prioritised in Sheffield for a long time. She said there was evidence of the positive impact of early intervention work, including around harm outside the home.
“One of the aims of this strategy is making sure everything is more joined up and people know how to access what support and what services there is.”
She added that risks change, including types of criminal behaviour. “What we want to do and what we’re working hard to to do, is get as far downstream as we can to stop children and young people being involved, and that’s about all the different services we’ve got and working with partners.”
Coun Dale said that children and young people need to feel they belong in their community and there’s some myth-busting to be done.
Sensationalised
“Like Sally said, we can’t say there are no issues, but issues are sensationalised and I think sometimes people read a lot of social media and they get caught up in the fear-provoking element of things, where people actually become more fearful than may be necessary within their own community.”
“We adultify our children early on, we treat them as adults, as criminals, and expect them to behave in a certain way without actually offering them safe spaces in order to do that role modelling and that mentoring.”
She said that members of the public tell councillors there is a gang hanging round when often “it is just a group of young people chilling with their friends and having a bit of mischief with their friends after school and calling in to the chip shop or whatever”.
Coun Dale said there was a need to look at how people in the city talk about young people and how to make them feel more valued and celebrate the good things they do.
Coun Mahroof said he agreed about myth-busting: “It is incumbent on us as officers and officers to get that message across – to say some of this is just young people being young people.
“You build this self-prophecy – there’s kids at the end of the street and they must have done something and you tell somebody else and they tell somebody else and with social media these days it becomes a huge issue which ends up on our doorsteps, and the reality is it may well not have been an issue.”
Coun Ann Whitaker said that in her area there are issues with vandalism in the park and young people hanging around but also “some wonderful young people who do volunteer their time in the community and do all sorts of volunteering roles”.