A Report on the Inspection of the Care - Regulation and Quality ...

Detention as a Last Resort
The Convention on the Rights of the Child asserts that the principle of detention as a
last resort has a number of elements:
• the decision to detain a young person is made by a trust or court
• the decision is in the best interests of the young person
• other alternate options have been exhausted
• there is no other appropriate response
• there is an expectation of a positive outcome for the young person
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child connects the best interests
of the child, the right to be heard and the need to prevent young people from
entering secure care in the first place. In consideration of such matters, the range of
specialist services required to meet the ongoing needs of young people in an
alternative setting to secure care defines the responsibility of the trust under this
principle.
1.6. Methodology
A range of methodologies have been used in this inspection, including an
assessment of primary data from the young peoples' statutory case records, face to
face interviews with the young people and with a range of social work staff,
telephone interviews with the chair of each trusts' restriction of liberty panel 2 and a
table top review of the protocols/procedures relating to the day to day operation of
the panels.
The initial results of this inspection posed further questions around the restriction of
liberty panels and an approach based on the principles of action research was
adopted at the latter stages of the inspection in an attempt to respond to those
questions. The report also examines the ways in which each of the trusts' restriction
of liberty panels have been established and operate. These are recognised research
methods and are reflective of both a child centred and rights based approach to
regulation and oversight adopted by RQIA as the health and social care regulator for
Northern Ireland.
This report has been structured to provide the reader with a series of 10 case
studies, each outlining an overview of the young person's journey through the care
system, identifying the key factors that influenced their progression towards
admission to secure accommodation. Within this context, the report highlights
themes around how the trusts as corporate parents discharged their duties and
functions in relation to these 10 young people.
2 The chairperson of the Northern Trust was unavailable due to leave. An alternate Head of Service
completed the interview
10