Identifying and Supporting Children and Young People Vulnerable to Violent Extremism including Radicalisation
REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS
The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011:
Regulation 11 - Independent fostering agencies—duty to secure welfare
Regulation 12 - Arrangements for the protection of children
Fostering Services: National Minimum Standards
STANDARD 4 - Safeguarding Children
Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This guidance provides advice on how the agency should manage and respond to concerns of children and young people identified as being vulnerable to all forms of violent extremism and affected by the radicalisation of others.
RELATED GUIDANCE
Protecting Children from Radicalisation: the Prevent Duty (2015)
Safeguarding Advice for Schools and Childcare Providers - Radicalisation
Contents
- Introduction
- Understanding and Recognising Risks and Vulnerabilities of Radicalisation
- Referral and Intervention Processes
- Online Safety
- What do we mean by the Term Prevention?
1. Introduction
Keeping children safe from these risks is a safeguarding matter and should be approached in the same way as safeguarding children from other risks.
"Extremism is vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas" (HM Government Prevent Strategy 2011).
Radicalisation is defined as the process by which people come to support terrorism and violent extremism and, in some cases, to then participate in terrorist groups.
There is no obvious profile of a person likely to become involved in extremism or a single indicator of when a person might move to adopt violence in support of extremist ideas. The process of radicalisation is different for every individual and can take place over an extended period or within a very short time frame.
All the terrorist groups who pose a threat, seek to radicalise and recruit people to their cause and this often involves children and young people. Early intervention work is crucial in protecting and diverting people away from being drawn into terrorist activity. Channel is a key element of the Prevent strategy. It is a multi-agency approach to protect people at risk from radicalisation and uses existing collaboration between local authorities and statutory agencies as well as the Police and local community.
2. Understanding and Recognising Risks and Vulnerabilities of Extremism and Radicalisation
Children and young people can be drawn into violence or they can be exposed to the messages of extremist groups by many means.
These can include through the influence of family members or friends and/or direct contact with extremist groups and organisations or, increasingly, through the internet. This can put a young person at risk of being drawn into criminal activity and has the potential to cause significant harm.
The Government's Channel Guidance assesses vulnerability using a framework built around three dimensions:
- Engagement with a group, cause or ideology; (Engagement factors are sometimes referred to as "psychological hooks". They include needs, susceptibilities, motivations and contextual influences and together map the individual pathway into terrorism);
- Intent to cause harm; (Not all those who become engaged by a group, cause or ideology go on to develop an intention to cause harm, so this dimension is considered separately. Intent factors describe the mind-set that is associated with a readiness to use violence and address what the individual would do and to what end); and
- Capability to cause harm. (Not all those who have a wish to cause harm on behalf of a group, cause or ideology are capable of doing so, and plots to cause widespread damage take a high level of personal capability, resources and networking to be successful. What the individual is capable of is therefore a key consideration when assessing risk of harm to the public).
The risk of radicalisation is the product of a number of factors and identifying this risk requires that staff and foster carers exercise their professional judgement, seeking further advice as necessary. It may be combined with other vulnerabilities or may be the only risk identified.
- Use of inappropriate language;
- Possession of violent extremist literature;
- Behavioural changes; increasingly centred around an extremist ideology;
- The expression of extremist views;
- Advocating violent actions and means;
- Association with known extremists;
- Seeking to recruit others to an extremist ideology;
- A change of style of dress or personal appearance to accord with the group;
- Loss of interest in other friends and activities not associated with the extremist ideology.
The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other indicators that the child or young person is at risk of violent extremism and radicalisation.
3. Referral and Intervention Processes
If staff or carers identify any concerns as a result of observed behaviour or reports of conversations to suggest the child supports terrorism and/or violent extremism, they must report these concerns to the Registered Manager, the Supervising Social Worker or the Out of Hours support. The child's social worker and placing authority of the child involved must be informed of the concern as soon as possible. It will be their responsibility to take the concerns forward through the appropriate channels.
Consideration should also be given to the need for an emergency response - this will be extremely rare but examples are where there is information that a violent act is imminent or where weapons or other materials may be in the possession of a young person or member of his or her family. In this situation a 999 call must be made. In addition to contacting the Emergency Services, the placing authority for the child must be advised of the concern immediately.
See also: Safeguarding Children and Young People Procedure and Missing Children Procedure.
4. Online Safety
On-line content in particular social media may pose a specific risk in normalising radical views and promoting content that is shocking and extreme; children can be trusting and may not necessarily appreciate bias, which can lead to being drawn into such groups and to adopt their extremist views.
Foster carers should be vigilant and also refer to the fostering agency's Internet, Photographs and Mobile Phones Procedure. They should also be aware of concerning extremist literature that the child or young person may have in their possession.
See also: Internet, Photographs and Mobile Phones Procedure.
5. What do we mean by the Term Prevention?
Prevention means reducing or eliminating the risk of individuals or groups becoming involved in terrorism. Prevent involves the identification and referral of those susceptible to violent extremism into appropriate interventions. These interventions are aimed to stop the vulnerable being radicalised.
Extremists will always target the vulnerable in a bid to spread their firmly held, but flawed, ideologies, but we must tackle them at source and prevent people being brainwashed into terrorism.