Children and Young People Affected by a Family Member in Prison or Secure Care: Final Report of Short-Life Group

5. Conclusion and next steps

The recommendations of the Short-Life Group on Children and Young People Affected by a Family Member in Prison or Secure Care are:

• Recommendation 1: In line with our national practice model, adopt a rights-respecting trauma-informed approach to child planning for children affected by the imprisonment of a family member;
• Recommendation 2: Incorporate the ‘This Is Me’ toolkit into the assessment and planning process to ensure proper consideration of the child’s needs and rights;
• Recommendation 3: Improve the wellbeing of both adults and children, by identifying parents and siblings within the prison and secure population and ensuring their rights to a sustained and healthy relationship are supported and fulfilled;
• Recommendation 4: Support the right to family life by promoting consistent opportunities for children to have relationships with a family member in secure care or prison, where in the child’s best interests.

The recommendations within this report reflect strong commitment to build on work already underway and fully embed UNCRC and GIRFEC recognising the impact of trauma on the child or young person. Improvements in policies, procedures and responses can minimise re-traumatising children and young people, reduce barriers to supports and can be life-changing for those affected.

The Short-Life Group demonstrated a strong commitment throughout its meetings to mitigate the impacts of trauma and reduce re-traumatisation. It was agreed all work to improve the experience of the child or young person must consider the impact of trauma throughout all the processes and decision-making at each crucial point in the journey of the family member through the justice system. As part of the Scottish Government and COSLA’s shared ambition for a trauma-informed workforce and services across Scotland, the National Trauma Transformation Programme has developed a ‘Roadmap for Creating Trauma-Informed and Responsive Change: Guidance for Organisations, Systems and Workforces in Scotland’. This resource will support organisations and services to implement a trauma-informed and responsive approach.

The draft recommendations of the Short-Life Group were discussed at the C&FNLG meeting in June 2023, where the report was welcomed, with agreement to further scoping of a delivery plan to implement the recommendations, with a range of stakeholders expressing an interest. The final report of the Short-Life Group will be shared widely following publication. The scoping work and a delivery plan will be developed for wider input by end of 2023.

Given the need for this Short-Life Group was identified as part of the work exploring the experiences of under-18s in custody, it is requested that every effort be made to ensure all actions and potential new processes, services, procedures, and systemic approaches proactively divert young people away from custody including through improving information and notification between police, courts, legal representatives and custody settings. Where this is not possible, the care provided should include attention to nurturing relationships through a trauma-informed approach.

Joanna Macdonald Deputy Chief Social Work Adviser, Scottish Government

Chair of the Short-Life Group

January 2024