Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the early findings of research which aims to hear the voice of looked after children about their pathways into offending and subsequent entry into the youth justice system, and the implications that this may have for policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach One-to-one semi-structured interviews have taken place with 19 looked after children, who are also subject to youth justice supervision. The interviews have been analysed to identify emerging themes, using broadly grounded approaches. Findings Three important findings arise from the interviews with the participants. First, children in care are being labelled and removed from the mainstream due to problematic behaviours, rather than searching for the underlying cause of the behaviour. Second, significant anger and frustration is expressed towards residential care staff and the child’s social worker, due to several reasons relating to the institutional environment within residential care, and a lack of trust for those professionals with whom control over the child’s life rests. Finally, the children describe feeling powerless whilst in care, and within this context, the peer group plays a crucial role within the lives of the children interviewed. Research limitations/implications The findings are based on the subjective views of 19 interviewees. The sample is not representative, and has not been compared with other forms of data. Rather, it provides the reader with the perspectives of some of the most challenging and vulnerable children in the youth justice system, and places their voice at centre stage. Practical implications This paper points to several challenges within current youth justice and social work practice which led to the interviewees feeling disempowered and ambivalent about their future. A number of recommendations for policy and practice are made in the concluding sections of the paper which may assist those in policy and practice. Originality/value The voice of the looked after child who is also subject to youth justice has not been given centre stage within research to date. The findings are based on this voice and offer a different perspective about a looked after child’s pathways into offending. A number of potential implications for policy and practice, which could be considered and implemented to deal with this problem, are then discussed.

中文翻译：

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听到照顾孩子的声音：挑战当前的假设和对犯罪途径的了解

目的本文的目的是评估研究的早期发现，该研究旨在听取被照料的儿童关于其犯罪途径以及随后进入青年司法系统的声音，以及这对政策和实践的影响。设计/方法/方法进行了一对一的半结构化访谈，采访了19名受照料儿童，这些儿童也受到青少年司法监督。使用广泛扎根的方法对访谈进行了分析，以识别新兴主题。调查结果与参与者的访谈产生了三个重要发现。首先，由于有问题的行为，被照料的儿童被贴上标签并从主流中删除，而不是寻找行为的根本原因。第二，由于与寄养机构内的机构环境有关的若干原因，以及对控制孩子生活的专业人员缺乏信任，对寄养机构的工作人员和孩子的社工表示了极大的愤怒和沮丧。最后，孩子们描述了在照料时感觉无能为力，在这种情况下，同龄人小组在受访孩子的生活中起着至关重要的作用。研究局限性/含义研究结果基于19位受访者的主观观点。该样本不具有代表性，也未与其他形式的数据进行比较。相反，它为读者提供了青年司法系统中一些最具挑战性和最弱势儿童的观点，并将他们的声音放在了中心位置。实际意义本文指出了当前青年司法和社会工作实践中的一些挑战，这些挑战导致受访者对自己的未来失去权能并产生矛盾。本文的结论部分提出了许多政策和实践建议，可以为政策和实践提供帮助。独创性/价值迄今为止，还没有受到照料的，也受到青年司法审判的孩子的声音尚未成为研究的重点。这些发现基于这种声音，并为照看孩子的犯罪途径提供了不同的观点。然后讨论了对政策和实践的许多潜在影响，可以考虑和实施这些潜在影响。