Staf and CYCJ receive commendation for justice work at UK awards

Staf, along with CYCJ, was nominated for an award at the Howard League Community Awards on Wednesday – we didn’t win but we received a commendation!

The work we are doing with the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice, the Next Steps project, was nominated in the ‘Residential Care’ category and aims to inform, influence and support improvements to local and national practice in responding to offending in residential care.

The Howard League judging panel commented of the project: “(This is) evidence in the early stages of how children’s home should be run…good policy in place to put into practice in the future. Focus on support to residential staff and their decision making is something I welcomed as a former residential social worker…we look forward to future outcomes.”

You can read more about that work so far here and Debbie Nolan, CYCJ’s Practice Advisor and co-founder of the Next Steps project, has written a new blog on the progress of the project which you can read here.

Our CEO Norma Corlette said:

“It was fantastic to get nominated alongside CYCJ for a Howard League Community Award and we are thrilled to receive a commendation too.

“Well done to the winner and to all of those nominated – the high calibre of nominees is testament to the excellent work being done on responding to offending in residential care.

“We are indebted to the hard work of our colleagues at CYCJ in delivering this – Staf look forward to our strong partnership with CYCJ deepening in the future.

“In particular, we look forward to embarking on a new joint project with CYCJ to increase the participation of care experienced young people with direct experience of the justice system.”

The Howard League for Penal Reform are a prominent and influential UK-wide charity that work to reduce crime and ensure fewer people are in prison. You can read more about their Community Awards and all of the winners here.

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