4.4 Appropriate Adult Referrals

What is an Appropriate Adult?
Parents as Appropriate Adults
The Youth Offending Team
Family Services
Out of Hours
Acting as an Appropriate Adult

1. What is an Appropriate Adult?

Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984, all people under the age of 17 and those over 17 with mental health problems and learning difficulties must have an Appropriate Adult present when they are being questioned by the police.

The key roles of the Appropriate Adult are as follows:

To give support and advice to the detained person
To facilitate communication between the police and the detained person
To ensure police interviews are conducted fairly and properly
To check welfare issues
To look at Custody Records to ensure the person has been treated properly
To make sure the person understands the interview process

An Appropriate Adult can also delay interviews if they feel it is necessary

Appropriate adults are also required for other categories of person who are considered vulnerable for reasons other than age. This guidance however relates to provision of appropriate adults for young people only.

In law an appropriate adult is not required where a young person is 17 years old. There may however be exceptional circumstances where a particularly vulnerable 17 year old will require an appropriate adult to be present.

The Appropriate Adult in the case of a young person is defined as:

His/her parent or guardian (or, if he/she is in care, the care authority or voluntary organisation);
A Social Worker; or
Failing either of the above, another reasonable adult arranged by the Police.

2. Parents as Appropriate Adults

In general it is preferable for parents or guardians to attend the Police Station. The police are legally obliged to contact parents in the first instance.

Family Services should therefore only act as appropriate adult in exceptional circumstances. These might include:

Where parents are disqualified from acting as Appropriate Adult because they are involved in or are a victim of the alleged offence
Where reasonable effort has been made to contact parents without success
Where parents refuse or are unable to attend
Where the young person is Looked After by Family Services

This protocol states which service is responsible for providing the Appropriate Adult in the exceptional circumstances where parents or guardians cannot do so.

The protocol has been agreed between the Youth Offending Team and Family Services at Head of Service level.

3. The Youth Offending Team

Youth Offending Team will be the first contact point when an Appropriate Adult is requested by the Police. The Youth Offending Team will clarify what attempts have been made by the Police to contact parents and the outcome of these attempts. They will collate basic details in order to determine which Team should provide the Appropriate Adult service in the parents’ absence.

The purpose of the Youth Offending Team co-ordinating all referrals for Appropriate Adults, is to ensure that the Police have just one point of contact. It will also allow the Youth Offending Team to monitor the number of requests made for this service and the outcome of each case.

If a young person is on a criminal order and allocated to a member of the Youth Offending Team as a result of a criminal conviction, the Youth Offending Team will provide an Appropriate Adult.

Reciprocal agreements are in place between Westminster and Hammersmith’s Youth Offending Team’s to act on each other’s behalf in these circumstances for young people known to the Youth Offending Team.

4. Family Services

If the young person is not known to the Youth Offending Team or is not on a statutory order as a result of a criminal conviction, then responsibility lies with Family Services. The Youth Offending Team will check on Person Index (PI) to see if the young person is already known and refer to the relevant locality team if appropriate. If the young person is not known, the case will be passed to Family Services Locality Team that covers the area in which the Police station. In each circumstance, the Youth Offending Team will contact the duty Social Worker in the relevant team and pass on the basic details including the name and telephone number of the Police Officer in the case. The Youth Offending Team will take the name and number of the duty worker dealing with the matter and pass this on to the Police. The Duty Social Worker will then liaise directly with the Police about timing etc. It is advisable that the social worker does not attend the police station until the young persons solicitor is present and the police are ready to start questioning the young person. The social worker may also choose to make fresh efforts to get the young persons parents to attend.

If it can be established that another authority has responsibility for a young person, efforts will be made to enlist that authority in the provision of an Appropriate Adult. Particularly so, if the authority is a near neighbour. It is reasonable to expect the authority to provide an Appropriate Adult if the young person is Looked After. Experience shows however, that practice is inconsistent in this respect and it is not always possible to persuade other authorities to co-operate.

5. Out of Hours

If an Appropriate Adult is required on week days between 17.00 and 9.00 hrs or on a weekend or Bank Holiday the Police will contact the Emergency Duty Team directly.

If the Police are unable to obtain an Appropriate Adult through contacting the Emergency Duty Team they will contact the voluntary Appropriate Adult scheme.

6. Acting as an Appropriate Adult

The legislation dealing with the rights of young people in police detention is contained within the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) – generally referred to as PACE. The role of the appropriate adult is detailed in the Codes of Practice (Revised Edition April 1995) issued by the Secretary of State in accordance with Sections 60(1)(a) and 66 of the Act.

It is important to remember the an Appropriate Adult does not attend the police station as an observer but is there to advise the young person, to facilitate communication between the police and the young person, to make representations (and in some cases decisions) on behalf of the young person and to ensure that their treatment accords with that laid down in the Codes of Practice.

It is important that Appropriate Adults are trained and are familiar with the requirements of the role and the relevance legislation before attending the Police Station. The Yot will take responsibility for ensuring regular training events.

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