Support for Victims

Restorative justice can play an important role in helping victims by giving them a voice and by reducing the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour. Derby City YOS has a Victim Liaison Officer who works with and supports victims of youth crime in Derby City. The Victim Liaison Officer will contact Victims of Youth Crime to provide them with information about the outcome of the case and offer them the opportunity to participate in an appropriate Restorative Justice Process.

This is entirely voluntary and victims do not have to participate. If Victims do not wish to meet with the offender directly, their views can be represented by the Victim Liaison Officer, who will support and keep them informed throughout their involvement with the YOS.

Victims are also able to consider the type of reparation work the young person should carry out, either directly to them (direct reparation) or for the local community (indirect reparation).

Parenting Support

We know that bringing up children can be difficult and parenting is made more difficult when a young person has challenging behaviour. This can include disrespect, mixing with the wrong crowd, missing school, and violence and anger. Therefore, the YOS provides a service to support parents to develop more confidence and reduce the stress that they go through whilst bringing up teenagers. There is a variety of programmes to reflect the diverse needs of parents, which can be offered on an individual basis or within a group programme. The focus of the programme is to help parents:

• understand the causes of difficult behaviour
• learn about the skills that children need to move successfully from one stage of development to another
• encourage positive relationships between them and their child as they develop
• manage the problem behaviour
• plan for future difficult situations

Most parents seek support on a voluntary basis, however, a few parents are told to attend by the courts using a Parenting Order. A Parenting Order is given when a parent has not been willing to work with the Youth Offending Service on a voluntary basis to reduce the risk of their child offending or re-offending. The response from parents that have had support tells us that attending the sessions can help to improve their confidence and improve their child’s behaviour.