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Contested Vulnerability: A Case Study of Girls in secure care

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  • Ellis, Katie

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ellis, Katie, 2018. "Contested Vulnerability: A Case Study of Girls in secure care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 156-163.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:88:y:2018:i:c:p:156-163
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.02.047
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    Cited by:

    1. Hickle, Kristine & Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique, 2018. "Adversity and intervention needs among girls in residential care with experiences of commercial sexual exploitation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 17-23.
    2. Andow, Caroline, 2020. "The institutional shaping of children’s educational experiences in secure custody: A case study of a secure children’s home in England," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Wilson, Samita & Hean, Sarah & Abebe, Tatek & Heaslip, Vanessa, 2020. "Children’s experiences with Child Protection Services: A synthesis of qualitative evidence," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).

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