Fuse badged meetings
Early Life and Adolescence cluster - Lunchtime seminar
- Venue: Online (via Zoom)
- Start: Wed, 04 Dec 2024 12:30:00 GMT
- End: Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:30:00 GMT
Children detained under the Mental Health Act 1983: the right to receive child-friendly information as a core feature of their participation rights
Professor Ray Arthur (School of Law, Northumbria University)
Carole Burrell (Associate Professor, School of Law, Northumbria University)
Dr Siobhan McConnell (School of Law, Northumbria University)
This seminar will present findings from research (funded by the British Academy) which is being undertaken by academics based in the Law Schools of Northumbria and Leeds Beckett Universities and which concerns children who are detained in England under the powers of the Mental Health Act 1983.
Detained children have the right to be provided with an explanation of their legal status, including details of which section of the Mental Health Act they are subject to, the effect of their detention and their right to apply for review of their detention. The research aims to understand the extent to which detained children are being provided with accessible, effective and appropriate information in relation to their legal status, and in particular their right to challenge their detention.
At the core of this study is a conception of children who are detained in mental health settings as social actors who are capable of participating in decision-making about their detention and treatment.
This seminar presents findings from the first part of the study which examined a selection of materials provided by NHS Mental Health Trusts to detained children regarding their right to apply to the First Tier Tribunal to challenge their detention. We adopted a problem-driven content analysis analytical approach to consider whether this material was appropriate to children’s needs and whether it complied with the Council of Europe Guidelines on Child Friendly Justice and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The second part of the study involves examining how children have engaged with these materials. The data collection and evaluation methods focus around the “Diamond 16” collection method, which allows each participant to rank their views, experiential knowledge, lived experiences and emotional responses thereby giving a voice to an under-research group of children. The Diamond 16 creates the space for the young people to express their emotions and opinions, providing them with some power and control over the research process. The findings of this study are relevant to the development of evidence-based resources to support the participation of detained children in Tribunal proceedings in a manner consistent with the Guidelines and the shifting legal landscape in which they find themselves.
