Parents' involvement in the youth justice system: a view from the trenches.

The centrality of parents (or parent figures) (2) in the lives of children and adolescents is difficult to dispute. Beyond the family context, parents play a significant role in children's interactions with larger social institutions, such as the education and healthcare systems. The importance of parents in their children's lives has also been explicitly acknowledged in youth justice legislation since the time of the Young Offenders Act (YOA 1984). The declaration of principles of the YOA included a general acknowledgement of the responsibility of parents and the interest of families in the freedom and well-being of children (YOA s. 3(1)). As summarized by Varma (2007), specific provisions for parental involvement included notifying parents regarding a youth's arrest or court proceedings (such as bails hearings), establishing a youth's right to request the presence of a parent (or other appropriate adult) during police questioning, taking into account representations made by parents when sentencing decisions are made, and expecting parental supervision of certain bail or probation conditions set by the court. Although this was never explicitly expressed in the legislation, parents' role under the YOA appears to have focused predominantly on support and advocacy for young people as a means of compensating for youths' not having reached full maturity (Tustin 1994). (3)

An even stronger focus on the role of parents is apparent in the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA 2002), which instructs that "parents should be informed of measures or proceedings involving their children and encouraged to support them in addressing their o...

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