Posted: Tue 1 Aug, 2023 Author: Hannah Millar

“Yeah, I feel like especially, I haven’t had any justice or anything in regards to what happened and I feel like sometimes doing stuff like this, you’re gaining justice in some way.”

- Young person

Blog written by Hannah Millar. Hannah is a Research Fellow working with the Young Researchers' Advisory Panel in the Safer Young Lives Research Centre. She is interested in the role of young people's participation in research and also within services and how much influence they can have in creating change.

The Safer Young Lives Research Centre (SYLRC) launched the Learning Together project in June 2022 to explore the needs of researchers who seek to engage young people ethically and safely in research about sexual abuse. Part of this work, to date, has included speaking to young people who have been involved in such research to find out what this should look, and feel, like for them. Centering their voices, the project is developing resources that will aim to support researchers but also young people, who may be considering taking part in research about sexual abuse.

So, why would any young person want to get involved in research in the first place? Whether you are reading this as a researcher, someone who works with young people, or you are a young person, you may identify with the many reasons why there exists some reluctance towards taking part in research. The experience could feel extractive, tokenistic or lead to re-traumatization - all genuine concerns. It is exactly these concerns that underpin the rationale for Learning Together. The project aims to understand what can be done to minimize these concerns and to promote a safe and ethical culture when this kind of research is being conducted; not one that just meets ethical criteria for the researcher and their organisation’s ethics board, but one that also feels safe, meaningful and is a positive experience for children and young people.

For young people who are presented with the opportunity to get involved in research about sexual abuse, quite often to be interviewed, the ‘ask’ usually comes via their support services. There are obvious benefits to this approach; young people can be supported by their worker throughout, there are safeguarding processes in place, there may be meeting space that is familiar and comfortable for the young person where the research activities can take place, and they may have some existing experience of being part of a voice or participation group. This is true for many of the young people the team have spoken to across participatory projects at the SYLRC. Most recently, for example, the Centre’s ‘Learning from the Experts’, ‘Learning about the Lighthouse’ and ‘Our Voices III’ projects.

Yet, what young people tell us, as evidenced in research[1] is that professionals and services can let them down and, at worst, can compound harm and trauma. As researchers, therefore, we have a significant responsibility to do things differently; to be creative in our approach and not replicate the negative experiences some have encountered within services or to reproduce the exploitative dynamics of when a young person has been harmed.

In the context of sexual violence, experiences of the criminal justice system specifically, can actually end up reinforcing the lack of justice for what young people have gone through[2]. The meaning of justice evokes the concept of fairness and the notion of a rebalancing of power for those who have been oppressed and harmed. Yet, such processes make it difficult to gain justice[3]. This is particularly notable for young people affected by the inherent racism and discrimination in the system, such as the adultification of black girls[4] which obstructs their right to fair and just responses across safeguarding services.

Learning Together has been able to hear from young people - including members of the SYLRC’s Young Researchers’ Advisory Panel (YRAP) about what they feel is important when they are taking part in research on sensitive issues, such as sexual violence. What we heard, reveals that, done well, there is an opportunity for participation in research to counter young people’s negative experiences of so-called safeguarding systems and potentially go some way to redress the failings they have experienced through services and in the criminal justice system. Here, we draw on the reflections of the YRAP about their views of participating in research - including how it can help to support young people to feel a sense of justice, and how this is situated in ethical and safe research.

Feeling heard and in control

This reflection from one member highlights the transition that occurred for them through joining the Young Researchers’ Advisory Panel:

“I think also when you are growing up and you’ve been struggling with really awful things, you don’t have any control and your voice isn’t heard no matter how hard you scream it, and in YRAP it changes that completely and it flips that completely on its head. You are heard and you are listened to, and your opinions are valued, and it gives you a sense of control especially for people who don’t have that.” (YRAP member, 1)

There is a sense of control afforded through participation, which was denied in experiences of abuse and often, also, in services. ‘Control, ‘voice’ and ‘feeling heard’ are words that continue to surface when we talk to young people about the value of participation in both research and services.

Being part of change

For another member of the YRAP, their journey into research is motivated by a strong drive to create change in services for other young people who have experienced sexual abuse. She shared:

“I didn't gain a lot of justice with my own experiences and I didn't stand up for myself back then because I was a child and that motivates me to stand up for these young people that feel they don't have a voice. Gaining justice in a setting like this is so good for my soul. I get to be part of change and that is what is incredible for me.” (YRAP member, 2)

What we heard from young people highlights some of the power that professionals can hold by genuinely listening to young people and in acting on what is shared. This holds the capacity to transform young people’s perceptions, through having different experiences, and to locate them with a sense of value in research and as part of influencing change.

Healing through participation

Furthermore, while participation groups like the YRAP do not offer therapy, in the clinical sense, they can have a therapeutic effect, as this member notes with reference to ‘recovery’ and ‘healing’:

“Feeling in control and feeling like you can make an impact has been instrumental in my recovery but also made me feel a sense of purpose. There's something so rewarding to be a result of something so awful is healing.” (YRAP member, 4)

Resituating power

The quote below, from another YRAP member, refers to an abuse of power in authority, and how being part of sexual abuse research via the YRAP goes some way to address this:

“I think we could all go back to times where there has been abuse of power in authority. It’s not right and we need to be able to hold them to account and it’s very scary and it can be really daunting. And so through YRAP and through our research and our work we have got a way to do that formally but we should be able to do it in our day-to-day lives as well.” (YRAP member, 3)

This notion of addressing power imbalances and promoting a sense of justice through research could hold significance for different young people in different ways. Children and young people from racialised and oppressed communities may have distinct experiences of, and relationships with, power, and it is essential to develop effective ways of working with all groups of children and young people. Researchers need to apply an intersectional lens that looks beyond individual experiences of harm and negotiate the various power dynamics at play, such as the structural and systemic contexts, the funding agenda, the project objectives, as well as their own relationship to the subject of the project.

As researchers, we also need to be transparent about the limitations of research particularly in the context of justice in relation to sexual abuse and the change that can occur within existing systems. Young people simply need to be aware that what they get involved in will not change their experiences of systems and services tomorrow but, rather, is more likely forming part of one small step in incremental changes within a big, complex and (unjust) systems. It is, also, beyond the scope of research to address the overwhelming sense of injustice that some young people feel. However, there is a role for it to play in making that experience of participation as positive as possible and, to keep in mind, how that may offer some sense of justice.

Concluding thoughts

What each young person takes away from involvement in research will be different; the opportunity to speak openly and receive a voucher might be enough whereas, for others, it may be a catalyst in their interest in advocating for change. The reflections from our own YRAP members are testament to the transformative power of participation in research and how the role of the expertise of those with lived experience of sexual exploitation cannot be underestimated in this kind of research. Some members of the YRAP have now moved into research roles, evidencing how their experiences of safe and ethical participatory research can support their repositioning as experts by experience, and subjects of research, to now informing design of, and conducting research as researchers in their own right. As a research field that seems to be dominated by white, middle-class females, there is a need for challenge and change and increased diversification and inclusivity. When participatory research is done safely and ethically, it can create space for change in itself. When young people who may have once viewed research as inaccessible as a career route, their positive experiences of participation has allowed them to enter it professionally and create change within the field.

While the resources from this particular strand of the Learning Together project (which will be launched later this year), will have a focus on sexual abuse research, there is scope to apply some of the learning from this research context to support working with young people who have experienced other forms of harm, to enhance research related to safeguarding and supporting young people more broadly. As someone with interest in engaging with, and foregrounding lesser-heard voices and the significance of their individual experiences and views, we all need to be committed to creating safe and inclusive spaces that rebalances power and authentically provides choice and control for young people, in the name of influencing meaningful change.

References

Allnock, D., Beckett, H., Soares, C., Warrington, C., Hagell, A. and Starbuck, L. (2022) Learning from the Experts: Young people’s views on their mental health and emotional wellbeing needs following sexual abuse in adolescence. University of Bedfordshire: Luton. Available at: https://www.beds.ac.uk/media/3qjmxdlq/uob_sylrc_learningfromexpertsreport_full-report.pdf

Beckett, H., and Warrington, C. (2015) Making Justice Work: Experiences of criminal justice for children and young people affected by sexual exploitation as victims and witnesses. University of Bedfordshire: Luton. Available at: https://www.beds.ac.uk/media/85854/makingjusticeworkfullreport.pdf

Beckett, H., Warrington, C., Ackerley, E., and Allnock, D. (2015) Children's Voices Research Report: Children and young people’s perspectives on the police’s role in safeguarding: a report for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies. University of Bedfordshire: Luton. Available at:

https://www.beds.ac.uk/media/86277/hmic-uob-report-final.pdf

Davis, J., and Marsh, N. (2020). Boys to Men: The cost of adultification in safeguarding responses to black boys. Critical and Radical Social Work (8), 2, pp.255-259.

NSPCC (2022) Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions and Convictions Roughly Halve in 4 years. [Online]. Available at: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/about-us/news-opinion/2022/child-sexual-abuse-prosecutions-convictions-halve/

Warrington, C., Beckett, H., Ackerley, E., Allnock, D., and Walker, M. (2017) Making Noise: Children’s voices for positive change after sexual abuse. University of Bedfordshire: Luton. Available at: https://www.beds.ac.uk/media/86813/makingnoise-20042017.pdf

[1] See for example, Allnock et al. (2022); Warrington et al. (2017)

[2] Allnock et al. (2022); Beckett and Warrington (2015); Beckett et al. (2015)

[3] NSPCC (2022)

[4] Davis and Marsh (2020)