Youth offending – help for parents

What help is available for parents or carers?

Help is available if your child has been referred to the Youth Offending Team by a court.

The Youth Offending Team (YOT) brings together workers from children's services, Sussex Police, the probation service, the NHS and the voluntary sector. Our aim is to prevent children and young people aged 10–17 from offending.

What does the Youth Offending Team do?

The Youth Offending Team (YOT) assesses every young person who is referred to the team using the ASSET form, which is a standard procedure for every YOT in England and Wales.

It identifies the specific problems that make the young person offend as well as measuring the risk they pose to others. This enables the YOT to identify suitable programmes to address the needs of the young person to try and prevent further offending.

Supervising sentences

The YOT staff write pre-sentence reports to help courts decide what sentence to impose. YOT workers then supervises young offenders They then supervise young offenders, whether they receive a community sentence (such as a referral, reparation, action plan or supervision order) or a custodial sentence.

Programnmes run by the YOT

You can join our programmes to develop the skills and confidence in handling conflict, in communicating with your children and in supervising them more effectively.

These programmes are run by the Youth Offending Team in partnership with Crime Reduction Initiatives, a Sussex-based voluntary organisation.

STOP (Supporting Together Offenders' Parents) is a 9–12 week structured programme for parents and carers of children aged 10–17 years. Each programme is attended by parents and carers only.

What are Parenting Orders?

Parenting Orders were introduced under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. If you a parent or carer of a child who is offending, you will receive support, guidance and training to help you prevent your child from re-offending.

For more information, help and advice visit our page on Parenting Orders.

Contacts

For help or more information please contact the Youth Offending Team