The Experience of Parenting a Young Person who has Offended, from Early Life to Youth Custody

Abstract

The role of caregivers has been identified as a contributing risk factor for youth offending. Empirical data and theory underscore inequality, and stigmatisation in exacerbating delinquency and potentially impairing parents’ abilities to supervise their children and implement family-based interventions derived from substantial previous research and policy. However, there remains limited research on how it feels for parents to experience their child’s trajectory into offending behaviour and their subsequent custodial sentence, and how this has impacted their self-concept and family life. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants from minority ethnic backgrounds, investigating the experiences of parents whose children have engaged in offending behaviour. The interpretative phenomenological analysis resulted in four group experiential themes: ‘The strength to parent and survive against the odds,’ ‘This is out of our hands’, ‘Being forced to accept a new way of being’, and ‘The importance of hope, faith and people’. The findings indicate that parents encounter significant challenges that profoundly affect family life. Parents questioned their abilities and efforts to prevent their child from behaving antisocially or offending. They reported significant negative emotional toll, personal suffering, and loss. Parents spoke to conflicting duties between supporting their child in custody and family responsibilities, including parenting other children, and providing financially. The findings revealed that parents felt their custody was an inexorable outcome and debated their child’s personal responsibility versus external influences on their child’s behaviour. Despite hardships, some parents spoke of finding hope through support networks, having a positive mindset and through faith. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed, as well as recommendations for future research. The study highlights the need for early intervention, community support and trauma-informed services to support parents and their children to identify and cope with antisocial behaviour leading to offending, and with rehabilitation.