Determinants of parental participation in Family‐centered Care in Juvenile Justice Institutions

Abstract

This study assessed if staff members of two juvenile justice institutions in the Netherlands were able to motivate parents to participate in a programme of Familycentred Care. For research purposes, parents were considered to participate if they (a) attended the family meeting, (b) visited their son during regular visiting hours, and (c) participated in measurements. Study participants were the parents of 139 short-term detained male adolescents. The family meeting was attended by 47% of the parents, most adolescents (74.1%) were visited at least once by their parents, and 42% of the parents participated in measurements. Several factors influenced the parental participation rate variables, although effect sizes were small. The more parenting problems parents faced, the less likely they were to attend the family meeting. Parents with a job visited their son more often than unemployed parents.Finally, a longer stay of the adolescent and Dutch ethnicity predicted more parental participation in measurements. Our study showed that parental participation is feasible. However, the participation rates in the two years after the first steps of implementation were eligible for improvement. More implementation experience where staff could fully benefit from training and coaching in family-centred work could substantially increase parental participation rates.

Toward a Tailored Model of Youth Justice: A Qualitative Analysis of the Factors Associated with Successful Placement in a Community-Integrated Facility

“…At the same time it is impracticable for the institutions to provide all the necessary specialist education services and individualized package of care, as youth in youth justice facilities constitute a heterogeneous population, displaying a large variety of cognitive, psychological, and social problems (Hillege et al, 2017; Mulder et al, 2012). Also logistical limitations for high-security youth justice facilities (e.g., limited visiting hours) make it often difficult to involve the youth’s family and broader (professional) support network (Simons et al, 2019), while systemic interventions have proven to be essential in preventing future offending (Sawyer & Borduin, 2011; Van der Pol et al, 2017). High-security confinement further strongly limits possibilities to learn new ways of forming and maintaining appropriate social and sexual relationships and achieving autonomy (Dmitrieva et al, 2012; Lane et al, 2002), both important tasks of adolescent development (Hartwell et al, 2010).…”

Parental Participation in Juvenile Justice Institutions: Parents’ Perspectives on Facilitating and Hindering Factors

“…Placement of a youth into a JJI is always preceded by the ruling of a juvenile judge. Hence, the setting of a JJI differs from that of other forms of residential treatment in regard to population, length of stay, and legal framework (Simons et al, 2018). Therefore, whether the same factors apply to parents whose adolescents are detained in a JJI after being suspect of, or convicted for, criminal behavior, is of interest for study.…”

Parents’ Perspectives on Family‐centered Care in Juvenile Justice Institutions

“…Other types of residential care are not necessary involuntarily nor secure. Additionally, characteristics of residents, as well as the length of stay may differ between JJIs and other types of residential care (Simons et al., ). Parents’ wishes for involvement might differ as well between both types of settings.…”