How Complex Developmental Trauma, Residential Out-of-Home Care and Contact with the Justice System Intersect

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna Bollinger ◽  
Stephanie Scott-Smith ◽  
Philip Mendes
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Developmental Trauma ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Unpredictable Environment ◽  
Offending Behaviour ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Early Trauma ◽  
Drug And Alcohol

Complex developmental trauma impacts on neurobiological development through the creation of a frightening and unpredictable environment in which the brain develops. This early experience results in an under-developed limbic system and pre-frontal cortex. For some children and young people, their experiences of early trauma lead them into the residential Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) system. Neurodevelopmental delays that occur as a result of early trauma and abuse often become particularly pronounced during adolescence, including limited impulse control, poor emotional regulation and attachment impairments. These same delays contribute to offending behaviour and subsequent contact with the justice system. Complex developmental trauma has serious repercussions both for the individual and the society in which he or she lives. These repercussions may take the form of offending behaviour and contact with the justice system, drug and alcohol abuse, and continuing cycles of abuse and violence within families or victimisation.

Children Placed in Out-of-Home Care: Risk Factors for Involvement With the Juvenile Justice System

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Yampolskaya ◽  
Mary I. Armstrong ◽  
Roxann McNeish
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Detention Center ◽  
Cox Regression Analysis ◽  
Out Of Home Care

In previous research, child maltreatment has been associated with several negative outcomes, including delinquency. This study uses administrative data to examine risk factors, including the severity and chronicity of maltreatment, for juvenile justice involvement among children, ages 7 to 17, who were placed in out-of-home care in Florida (N = 13,212). The results of multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that among specific types of maltreatment, sexual abuse was associated with the risk of faster placement only in a detention center. Additionally, findings from this study suggest that maltreatment chronicity but not maltreatment severity increases the chances of earlier involvement with the juvenile justice system among children who were placed in an out-of-home care. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Pathways Into Youth Justice: Strengthening Policy and Program Supports for Young People in the Youth Justice System Who Are Transitioning From Out-of-Home Care

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Mendes ◽  
Susan Baidawi
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Care Plans ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Care Leavers

Local and international research suggests an overrepresentation of young people leaving state out-of-home care in the youth justice system. A range of factors appear to contribute to this correlation including child abuse and neglect, placement instability, experiences of residential care, and unsupported transitions from care. This article presents the findings of a Victorian pilot study conducted in partnership with Whitelion, a not-for-profit organisation specifically offering support to ‘young people involved with or at risk of involvement with the youth justice and/or out-of-home care and leaving care services’ (Whitelion, 2012), to examine the interrelationship between the child protection and youth justice systems, and particularly to explore the processes that take place when young people involved in the youth justice system leave state care. A series of interviews and focus groups with Whitelion workers were used to explore whether leaving care plans and policies address and minimise involvement with youth justice; the role, if any, of formal consultations by child protection services with youth justice regarding this group of care leavers; and the ongoing role of youth justice postcare, particularly when young people are in custody at the time of their exit from care. Some significant implications for policy and practice are identified.

Placing sibling groups together in foster care: The Oz Child sibling group placement program

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Southern Region ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Group Placement ◽  
Individual Needs ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sibling Group ◽  
Sibling Groups

Sibling groups placed in out-of-home care are often separated due to the relatively small number of caregivers who are able to care for large sibling groups, as well as the individual needs of the children. This article briefly explores the complexities of sibling placement within the international, national and Victorian contexts. It continues with a description of the Oz Child Sibling Group Placement Program which was implemented in Victoria's Southern Region to place sibling groups of three or more children together in foster care. The results of a review of the program are presented, including referral statistics, placement data and caregiver feedback. The article concludes with the consideration of recommendations for change as a result of the review.

scholarly journals CHILD JUSTICE IN PRACTICE: The diversion of young offenders

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hema Hargovan
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Young Offenders ◽  
Criminal Behaviour ◽  
New Era ◽  
The World ◽  
Offending Behaviour ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Individual

South Africa’s democratic transition ushered in a new era in child justice reform efforts. The Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 is arguably one of the best pieces of child justice legislation in the world. A central objective of the Act is to encourage the diversion of young offenders away from formal court procedures, giving children the opportunity to express their views on the circumstances of their offending behaviour. An intriguing issue remains the introspection of children themselves on their behaviour and how they are being dealt with by the justice system. This article reports on a preliminary analysis of feedback from children who were diverted to a particular diversion programme, to determine key reasons for youth offending behaviour and to understand their engagement with the diversion process and the diversion programme itself. The many intersecting risk factors at the individual, relationship, community and societal levels that are likely to impact on a child’s likelihood of engaging in anti-social or criminal behaviour, are also highlighted.

Mentoring young people leaving care

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-59
Author(s):  
Clare Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Role Modelling ◽  
Out Of Home Care

‘Whitelion’ is a non profit organisation that supports disadvantaged young people and helps make our community a more inclusive and safer place. Each year thousands of youths are disconnected from their families and our community due to abuse, neglect, drug addiction and poverty. These young people have often had horrific life experiences with few positive role models and are caught in a ‘cycle of discouragement’. Many of them end up in out-of-home care or the juvenile justice system. Whitelion gives them the best chance to ‘break the cycle’ through positive role modelling, mentoring and employment, and the opportunity to build positive lives for themselves.Clare Griffin is the Mentoring Team Leader at Whitelion. She has worked with young people involved with the out-of-home care system in a variety of roles over the past eight years.

Care-criminalisation: The involvement of children in out-of-home care in the New South Wales criminal justice system

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kath McFarlane
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Children's Court ◽  
Children’S Court

This article discusses the involvement in the New South Wales criminal justice system of a cohort of children in out-of-home care. The paper reports the findings of a four-year research project that investigated the relationship between the child welfare and justice systems as experienced by a cohort of children in the New South Wales Children’s Court criminal jurisdiction. Analysis of 160 case files identified that children in out-of-home care appeared before the Children’s Court on criminal charges at disproportionate rates compared to children who were not in out-of-home care. The out-of-home care cohort had a different and negative experience of the justice system, entering it at a significantly younger age and being more likely to experience custodial remand, than children who had not been in out-of-home care. While both cohorts shared many of the risk factors common to young offenders appearing before the Children’s Court, the out-of-home care cohort experienced significant additional disadvantage within the care environment (‘care-criminalisation’), such that living arrangements designed to protect them from harm instead created the environment for offending. The paper concludes by arguing that a paucity of research exists regarding the drivers and dynamics of care-criminalisation and that more research is needed to explore the criminogenic impacts of a childhood spent in out-of-home care.

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