Ellis, K. (2018) Contested Vulnerability: A Case Study of Girls in secure care. Children and Youth Services Review, 88. pp. 156-163. ISSN 0190-7409
Abstract
Figures from 2015 show that two hundred and five children entered secure accommodation from England and Wales. 47% were placed because they were on remand or sentenced for committing a serious offence. 43% were placed by social services under a child welfare order. The remaining 10% were secured by their local authority on criminal justice grounds. This paper uses the example of girls in secure care to explore understandings that are applied to young people considered ‘vulnerable’ and ‘troublesome’ simultaneously. While policy around secure accommodation claims that it offers a therapeutic intervention, to help young people work through their problems and learn appropriate coping mechanisms, it also keeps them ‘safe’ by physically locking them away from the world in which they have been entrenched. Using detailed ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores the experiences of girls living in a setting usually exempt from scrutiny and showcases their views of being ‘worked with’ in an institution designed to enable reform. Significantly, findings show that girls rejected the ‘vulnerable’ label that was ascribed to them and instead felt that vulnerability was better defined by life experience instead of age. By examining girl's own perspectives of their complex pathways into secure care, this paper will contest the binding of childhood and vulnerability and argue that such an act disenfranchises girls from the services that are designed to help them.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Childhood; Youth justice; Girls; Responsibilisation; Vulnerability |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Nursing and Midwifery (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 19 Apr 2018 10:28 |
Last Modified: | 06 Nov 2018 14:37 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.02.047 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.02.047 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:129092 |