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Applying the Child First Framework in Youth Justice Services
June 2025
Recommendations for the YJB and wider sector
The report includes 17 practical recommendations for the Youth Justice Board to further support the implementation of the Child First framework. These fall into four main areas:
Recommendations to support youth justice services to build on good practice - including for the YJB to continue disseminating good practice through online platforms like the YJB Resource Hub, Youth Justice Bulletin and social media, as well as encouraging youth justice services to seek children’s feedback more regularly through the use of ‘you said, we did’ templates.
Recommendations to consolidate practitioners’ awareness of the framework - including for the YJB to review current Resource Hub submissions to ensure they capture varied and challenging contexts to support practitioners across different settings. Additionally, ensuring that resources are shared in diverse formats and provide practical support on how the Child First framework aligns with other ways of working, such as restorative justice and trauma-informed practice.
Recommendations to strengthen partnerships and continue to engage key partners- including for the YJB to circulate resources that youth justice services can use to explain the framework and its tenets to external stakeholders, and building on the successful roll out of the Child First self-assessment tool and Child First toolkit to bring partners together to reflect on common themes and gaps in how they currently apply the framework.
Recommendations to continue building the evidence base around the Child First framework - In particular, this involves supporting or commissioning further research that captures children’s and parents and carers’ perspectives.
