Youth Offending Service

The Youth Offending Service (YOS) works with young people aged between 8 and 17 years who are offending or at risk of offending and the victims of their crime.

YOS deal with a variety of issues including social work, probation, drugs and alcohol abuse, education, health. It is committed to a multi-agency approach in order to improve the life opportunities of the young people it works with in order that they can lead offending-free lives.

•  Young People

  Divisionary Work

  If you have been arrested for the first time or minor offence you could be referred to us for Diversionary Work. This involves meeting with our YOS Police Officer and possibly the victim of your offence where you could be asked to carry out some reparation for the victim or the community.

   

  If you agree to do this work you will not receive a criminal record. You could be given a reprimand or a final warning (also known as a caution) if you have committed a minor offence. If you receive a final warning our YOS Police Officer will be in touch with you where you could be asked to be involved in some interventions to prevent you from offending again.

   

  Referral Order

  If you have pleaded guilty for a first time offence you will probably be sentenced to a Referral Order. As part of your Referral Order you and your parent(s) or carer(s) will be asked to attend a community panel which comprises of two members of the community, a member of staff from the YOS and the victim of your offence. You will agree a contract with the panel. The contract will have activities to put right what you have done to either the victim or the community and to help stop you from offending again.

   

  Youth Rehabilitation Order

  If you continue to offend the Court may impose a Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO). The YRO is a community sentence providing a ‘menu’ of interventions called ‘requirements’ for tackling offending behaviour and the sentence can be used again on multiple occasions. There are no restrictions on the number of times a young person can be sentenced to a YRO. Your YOS Officer will explain your YRO to you to help you understand what is expected of you whilst you are on an order.

   

  If you are on a community order with the YOS, you will be expected to meet with a member of the YOS when asked to do so. The number of meetings arranged for you will depend on how much support you need to help stop you from offending again.

   

  Detention and Training Order

  Some young people commit offences so serious or offend so many times that the Court feels it necessary to impose a custodial sentence. If this is the case you will receive a Detention and Training Order (DTO). 

•  Prevention
  The Vale of Glamorgan YOS has a dedicated Prevention Team working with Young People between 8 and 17 years of age who are at risk of offending.

   

  Young people are referred to us by any other agency, for example, Health professionals, schools and the Police but young people and their parents can also make referrals into the service themselves.

   

  A Prevention Keyworker is assigned to each young person referred who will work with the young person and their families to help them overcome some of the barriers they face in life and engage them in the support they require to help prevent them from offending in the future.

   

  Some of our projects and initiatives include:

   

  Youth Inclusion Support Panel (YISP)

  The YISP is a panel made up of many agencies across the Vale, including Social Services, Police, Education, Youth Services, Health, Probation and Voluntary Organisations. The YISP is designed to support young people aged between 8-13 who are most ‘at risk’ from offending for a variety of reasons and need a number of agency’s input to prevent them from entering the criminal justice system. The YISP dedicate their services to young people referred to them by agreeing support and actions while the young person is with the Prevention Team.

   

  Stigma

  Stigma is a group work programme for young people involved in anti social behaviour in the community. The Stigma programme gives young people the chance to explore what anti social behaviour is and how it impacts on themselves and the community

   

  Phoenix Programme

  The Phoenix programme is a course run by South Wales Fire and Rescue. It offers young people the chance to learn about the dangers of criminal behaviour, car crime, anti social behaviour and fire in a stimulating and fun environment whilst learning skills such as team work, communication and problem solving techniques using the fire service equipment.

•  Community Work
  The Vale of Glamorgan Youth Offending Service (YOS) values its community, we also try to encourage the young people we work with to value the community within which they live.

   

  One of the ways we do this is by reparation in the community. Reparation is when someone ‘makes up’ for the harm they have caused. Direct reparation to the victim or reparation to the community forms part of every young person’s order in the Vale of Glamorgan YOS. Young people carry out a variety of tasks on community reparation and you will see them being carried out in our Visible Crew van. These tasks include:

  • Graffiti cleaning
  • Litter picking
  • Beach cleaning
  • Footpath clearing
  • many more..

   

   

•  Support for Parents
  Take 3 Parenting Programme

  YOS currently run the Take 3 Parenting Programme which is specifically aimed at improving relationships between young people and their families as well as addressing young people’s behaviour at home, school (where applicable) and the wider community.

   

  It also explores the challenges parents face during the adolescent period and identifies strategies to overcome these difficulties. The course runs three times a year over an 8 week period. YOS endeavour to offer day and evening groups to accommodate all parent’s needs.

   

  Digital Parenting Workshops

  YOS also run Digital Parenting workshops which are run by our Parenting Co-Ordinator. The workshops provide up to date information in relation to current digital trends and attached risk as well as providing an effective programme designed to support parents in monitoring their children’s time in the digital world. This can also be an opportunity to discuss other queries or concerns parents may have.

   

  These Workshops run at 6pm on the third Tuesday of every month at the YOS Offices in Salisbury Road, Barry and can be accessed by all parents in the Vale:

   

  Tel: 01446 745820

  Email: ebarrett@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

•  Supporting Victims

  The YOS recognises that victims of crime are often left feeling isolated, scared and powerless. Therefore we are committed to supporting victims of our young people’s offences. If you have been a victim of an offence committed by a young person you will be contacted by our Victim Co-ordinator who will offer you the chance to take part in the young person’s sentence.

   

  We offer all of our young people’s victims, including corporate victims such as retailers, the chance to meet the offender in a safe and structured environment as we feel that victims need to be given the chance to have their say and young people to be given the opportunity to ‘put right’ what they have done. This process is called Restorative Justice.

   

  If you do not wish to meet with the young person, you may want to request to receive a letter of apology, specific pieces of reparation to be carried out in the community or just to be kept informed of the young person and what he/she are doing as part of their order.