Walsall Youth Justice Service Strategic Plan 2022-25

Walsall’s youth justice annual strategic plan has been approved at a Cabinet meeting at Walsall Council on Wednesday 13 December 2023.

This plan details the work of the youth justice partnership, reviewing key achievements over the past 12 months and progress against priorities, and setting the vision and strategic direction of the service over the coming 12 months.

Councillor Stacie Elson, Portfolio Holder for Children at Walsall Council, said, “This is the second year of the partnership’s three-year plan, and I am delighted that so much progress is being made to support some of the most vulnerable children in the borough.

“With our partners, we share the Youth Justice Board’s vision for a ‘Child First’ youth justice system, working together in a way to reduce the stigmatisation that contact with the justice system brings and building their resilience for a sustainable crime free life.”

Walsall Youth Justice Service is a statutory multi-agency service under Section 37 of the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act in partnership with Walsall Council, Walsall Children’s Services, West Midlands Police, the National Probation Service and Health.

The partnership is committed to continual learning and development to improve life outcomes for children and families, to have fewer victims of youth crime and a safer Walsall. These principles align with the Walsall Right 4 Children vision aimed at ensuring the right children are in the right place with the right support for as long as it is needed so they are safe from harm, happy and learning well.

The annual youth justice plan includes a selection of key highlights over the last 12 months.

· During this time, inspectors found effective practice in Walsall during a thematic inspection of remanded children.

· Turnaround, the youth early intervention programme led by the Ministry of Justice went live in December 2022. In Walsall, the funding was used to start delivering a programme of innovative youth work, intervention and positive activity opportunities in Walsall for young people on the edges of criminality, and their families.

· Work continued to address disproportionality and the over-representation of boys with black and mixed ethnicity in the justice system. In 2022, the partnership worked with Open Lens Media, a local media and training organisation, to deliver a coaching programme and to create a documentary based on their lived experiences they have faced growing up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDwc-CII01I.

· Through Safer Walsall Partnership funding, a local mentor was commissioned to work directly with black boys within the secure estate (young offender institutions, secure training centres and secure children’s homes) to help them navigate their time in custody and to help them plan and effectively resettle back in the community.