Incarcerating youth won’t fix anything

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/10/2016 (3338 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many Manitobans are fortunate to not have to heal from deep childhood trauma. And, if asked, many of us could name at least one caring, consistent adult who was available to us as we navigated childhood. Many of us grew up in environments absent of acute and chronic adversity. But sadly, a nurturing childhood is not an experience familiar to all children.

Recently, the media have covered stories about very young children acting out in dangerous ways but who are too young to be formally charged with criminal offences. These stories often do not paint a complete picture.

Children come into care for a number of reasons. Many have experienced violence, substance misuse, mental-health challenges, disability and other trauma. Many present with behaviours that, while certainly concerning, are foreseeable, reasonable and “normal” in light of their life experiences. Trauma changes children.

Fortunately, children under 12 are too young to be held criminally liable. There is little reason to believe the tools available to the courts and correctional services would have any significant therapeutic value for young children. Meeting the unique and complex care needs of traumatized children will contribute to better outcomes and, ultimately, better protect both the public, as well as the children.

Long lists of court-ordered conditions or locking young children up will not make them healthy. The justice system is not designed to adequately support individuals when those individuals have complex emotional or developmental needs requiring specialized interventions.

Manitoba already incarcerates more children than any other province. Many of the children currently in custody are in or from the child-welfare system, and indigenous children are alarmingly overrepresented in each of these public systems. While the Youth Criminal Justice Act describes and promotes reasonable consequences, rehabilitation and reintegration, the reality is Manitoba has an unenviable track record of punishing very vulnerable children, without much evidence it has been effective. What we are doing is not working.

Over the past several years, the government has invested millions of dollars in an inquiry to learn how to better protect and care for Manitoba’s children. We learned most of Manitoba’s children enter care as a result of neglect associated with the poverty too many children and families are experiencing as a result of colonization.

Today, the families receiving child-welfare services are most often families that are living the legacies of residential schools and are struggling to rebuild family units after generations of children were forcibly removed. It is important to remember when stories circulate about young children behaving in extreme ways, the details that are made public are rarely complete and rarely accurate in terms of how much support and intervention is actually happening.

This is a critical time for our province and our country. We are all called to learn more and understand more fully the truth about what attempted assimilation and colonization have done to Canada’s indigenous peoples. Reconciliation is an opportunity for all Canadians to accept the difficult history, understand how it lives today and commit to ways we can each contribute to new and renewed relationships.

One thing we all share is a common desire to see children live in the best possible world. What one child will need is different from the next, and some need far more support and love than others because they come from an experience that sets their development far back from their peers.

When we reframe our understandings of children who have been traumatized, we also share an obligation to understand and provide care that reflects their diverse needs. The ideal environment for children is to be surrounded by a caring, compassionate community. The responsibility cannot simply be delegated to government officials and child-welfare workers — people often scapegoated when children experience bad outcomes.

In July 2015, our office reported upon children living with complex needs (Safe for Today: Barriers to Long-Term Success for Youth in Care with Complex Needs). We concluded the needs of many of these children are not being met, and the development of specialized placements has not kept pace with demand.

We made a number of findings and recommendations, including that the government organize a summit with key stakeholders to develop a unified vision and plan of action for services. These recommendations, which promise the possibility of a shared commitment to a concrete and coherent plan of action, have not been implemented.

While governments have the responsibility to design and support policies that create opportunities for growth and positive change, individuals also have a role to play. Even if you feel the decisions of government are out of your hands, you have opportunities to influence conversations and decisions by ensuring your voice is heard. Join us in continuing to advocate for better outcomes for all of our children and youth — even those who have experienced incredible trauma and who are acting out in negative ways.

Instead of criminalizing them, we need to work to understand them and provide for their needs. This is the work of governments, health-care providers, educators, elders, neighbours, activists, business leaders, volunteers, academics, community leaders and community-based organizations — it’s our work as engaged, caring citizens.

Healthy children live in healthy communities, and we have much work left to do.

Darlene MacDonald is the Manitoba’s children’s advocate.

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