Online tool to avoid children becoming involved with violence
The Youth Endowment Fund has launched a new Toolkit to help police forces, local authorities, youth charities and college leaders provide support to children vulnerable to involvement in violence.
The YEF states that discovering what really works in tackling violence is tough. Knowledge about how best to support children is both hard to access, often hidden behind journal paywalls or on complicated websites, and difficult to know, written in complicated academic language without clear tips about exactly what the findings mean for the people who finalise what to purchase.
This means it’s difficult to make judgements concerning the right services to invest in, to ensure that children get the right support in the proper time and violence is reduced.
The YEF Toolkit summarises the accessible evidence and shows how effective different approaches are at preventing violence. It offers evidence about 13 different approaches and can be updated every six months with new topics and evidence that individuals dealing with children need.
An example approach is concentrated deterrence, which works with the small number of people who are active in the majority of crimes or acts of violence in a community. The neighborhood community, in addition to teams from the police, social care, health workers, youth workers and others offer them tailored support to alter the path they’re on, including such things as help with getting a job, medications and building their skills. The community and authorities clearly communicate they want violence to prevent and people involved in violence safe, which further violence will have consequences. It makes the consequences of violence clear, and will be offering a route out.
Jon Yates, Executive Director, Youth Endowment Fund, said: “The YEF Toolkit comes in an important moment. Because the restrictions we’ve all been living through start to lift, many of us are worried that we’ll see an increase in violence within our communities. We need to ensure that doesn’t happen. The Toolkit is here now to make certain we’re investing in services that prevent violence.
“Some Police and Crime Commissioners and police forces have previously decided to invest in focused deterrence. I really hope the Toolkit will encourage more to complete exactly the same and allow us to build evidence by evaluating their efforts. I’d encourage schools to make use of the Toolkit to purchase ensuring children develop social skills. I want to see local authorities use it to help shape the support that families get, to ensure that every child gets to develop in a supportive home. The Toolkit is there to enhance your local knowledge and help you to make the best choices for your community. By cooperating, we are able to make sure that no child becomes involved with violence.
