Government 2010b). In cases where a child or young person is subject to compulsory measures then the youth justice social worker will take on the role as lead professional. Or if it is specialised support that is required such as offence focused work then the youth justice social worker can work on a voluntary basis and be the lead professional. In this case it would be the job of the youth justice worker to compile the child plan, complete a holistic assessment/ report for Children’s Hearing or court, complete a structured risk assessment, communicate with all parties this includes the child or young person, the family and all agencies and attend any Children’s Hearings or provide support at any court appearance.
The benefits of inter-agency working in a youth justice setting is that every child or young person is unique so we are interdependent on each other in the different agencies and organisations as suggested by Bronstein (2003) to get the whole picture of that child or young person. It allows a shared responsibility, it gives the other agencies and organisations a chance to contribute and gives us a group reflection on what’s effective or what will meet the child or young person’s needs (Bronstein 2003).
However a number of barriers to inter-agency working continue to be identified through numerous serious case reviews. As evidenced in the Care Inspectorate Review (2016) the mains issues highlighted were a lack of clarity especially in relation to accountability, conflict and competition between individual and organisations and differences in threshold for concern. A lack of co-ordination of services, or communication between agencies was also identified as a factor that has endangered children’s lives or lead to children slipping through the net (Mitchell 2011). This was seen in tragedies such as the death of Maria Colwell and then 30 years on from that the tragic death of Victoria Climbie which prompted a review of child protection system (Scottish Executive 2002). The serious case review that followed this identified the need for reform in practice and delivery of children’s services to improve inter-agency working and communication (Laming 2003). Furthermore a lack of common language, different approaches to interventions existing between agencies and perceptions of risk and harm has also been evidenced as barrier. This was highlighted in the case of Colyn Evans who at 17 years old murdered a young girl in Fife whilst subject to throughcare support and who previously had been on a supervision order. Yet again the major issues raised in this case review were lack of communication between agencies, assessment of risk, case management and supervision of the case (Scottish Executive 2005b).
Although statutory guidance has been published, policies and approaches have been put in place, information sharing between agencies and collaboration with social work services continues to be problematic. The hope for the future is the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 can alleviate these barriers by enforcing and strengthening provisions regarding inter-agency collaboration in terms of planning and pr