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Contents

1. Appropriate Adults
2. Accommodation
3. Detention in Police Custody and Transfer to Local Authority Accommodation
4. Placement Decision Making
5. Decision to Reside where Directed
6. Transport Responsibilities

1. Appropriate Adults

Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the Youth Offending Service (YOS) has the statutory duty to co-ordinate the provision of persons to act as appropriate adults to safeguard the interests of children and young persons detained or questioned by police officers. In Lincolnshire this function is discharged through the establishment of a voluntary scheme operated in conjunction with The Appropriate Adult Service (TAAS), a provider and coordinator of volunteer staff.

Accredited TAAS volunteers attend as Appropriate Adults. They are accessed through either the local area Youth Offending Service (YOS) during office hours or the Children's Services Emergency Duty Team (EDT) out of office hours. Caseworkers, Foster Carers or Residential workers must not undertake the Appropriate Adult role for young people in their charge. Lincolnshire Police should be advised to contact the local Youth Offending Team or EDT.

When receiving Appropriate Adult referrals, YOS or EDT workers will interrogate the ICS database in order to facilitate appropriate exchange of information and to ascertain whether the young person is a Looked After Child or currently has an open referral and allocated Social Care Worker.

The time a child/young person remains in custody should be kept to a minimum and statutory custody time limits have to be strictly adhered to by Lincolnshire Police. However, if the detained young person is looked after under Section 20 (Children Act 1989) then the YOS or EDT worker should enter into discussion with, if possible, the relevant Team Manager and Lincolnshire Police to ensure all reasonable steps are taken to secure the attendance of the young person's parents as Appropriate Adults.

If the child is looked after under Section 31 (Children Act 1989), the attendance of parents should still be encouraged although care would need to be exercised to identify whether there were any child care/protection reasons to preclude parental contact. A Section 34 order would for example clearly preclude parental contact with the child.

There are separate protocols in relation to the Appropriate Adult service. Signatories to this are Lincolnshire Police, Lincolnshire Children's Services Directorate, Lincolnshire Youth Offending Service and the TAAS.

2.Accommodation

Issues may arise in relation to the identification of homeless young people. This could fall into the following categories:

• Homeless 16 and 17 year olds;
• Apparently homeless under 16 year olds;
• Those young people where parents refuse to have their child back home following their arrest.;
• 'Relevant' young persons (under the Leaving Care Act) who may be known to the Children Looked After Team and have a Pathway Plan.

It should be noted that the TAAS volunteers attend as Appropriate Adults only and do not get involved in issues around accommodation. If there are concerns these are passed on to either the YOS or EDT. The YOS will endeavour to assist in confirming the young person's position by making an initial telephone call to the carers, if contactable, to reinforce their parental responsibilities and assure them then a CAF/TAC or Initial Assessment will be completed.

If the YOS worker is not able to persuade carers to fulfil their responsibilities then a request for Initial Assessment should be made via the Customer Services Centre. When dealing with children under 16 Children's Services will seek to contact a person with parental responsibility to remind them of duties of care towards their child. Over 16s must be assessed with regard to vulnerability, and referred to the local housing department for joint assessment.

3. Detention in Police Custody and Transfer to Local Authority Accommodation

Unless there are specific factors preventing it, a child/young person normally has the right to unconditional bail.

Where bail is refused, he/she has to be produced at the next available court.

If a child aged 10 or 11 is refused bail, he/she must be transferred to local authority accommodation unless it is 'impracticable' to do so. Section 21 of the Children Act requires every authority to "receive and provide accommodation for children .... whom they are requested to receive under 38(6) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act". Thus, a transfer to LA cannot be impracticable on the grounds that the Local Authority has difficulties accessing suitable accommodation or because a custody officer would prefer secure accommodation. Impracticable only refers to circumstances which make it physically impossible to transfer the child/young person, for example extreme weather conditions such as floods or blizzards.

Local Authority accommodation in these circumstances has the same meaning as in other contexts, and a child transferred under these provisions for more than 24 hours is looked after for the purposes of the Children Act.

4.Placement Decision Making

The local authority therefore has discretion as to placement but 'will have need to have regard to the fact that the police custody officer has not ordered the juvenile's release from the police station' (Children Act, Guidance and Regulations. Volume 1)

If there are Placement Decisions to be made, this will be the responsibility of the relevant Team Manager in consultation with the Head of Service Manager.

If a child or young person aged 12 to 16 is refused bail then, as above, he/she must be transferred to the LA unless it is impracticable to do so. The only exception to this should be where the local authority is unable to provide secure accommodation and the custody officer certifies that keeping him/her in non secure accommodation would not be adequate to protect him or herself and/or the public from serious harm from that individual. Serious harm in this context means death or serious personal or psychological injury.

Under Youth Justice Board National Standards, the YOS is required to monitor the extent to which children are detained in police custody. The Emergency Duty Team are expected to notify the YOT where children are detained in police custody.

As an alternative to detention in police custody, the YOS may offer Bail Support/Supervision services.

5. Decision to Reside where Directed

Police may seek to Bail a young person to reside as directed by the Local Authority. If this is a likely outcome, the YOS worker must contact the Customer Services Centre or allocated Social Worker prior to agreeing this course of action at the earliest opportunity. Reside as directed does not mean that the child is Accommodated, or will be accommodated.

6. Transport Responsibilities

It should be noted that the TAAS volunteers do not get involved in the transport of young people. The police have responsibility to transport young people home after they have been interviewed under PACE. However, if a young person is the subject of a Care Order, this role falls to Local Authority. This responsibility becomes that of the allocated social worker during daytime working hours, and EDT will be contacted out of hours.

End