Do I have to tell an adult I want to come to TEEN FLASH?

This is a difficult one to answer; as everyone’s circumstances are different. In law young people under the age of 16 can consent to ‘treatment’ if they are believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to fully appreciate what’s involved. This is known as being ‘Gillick competent’.
Gillick competency is often used to help assess whether a young person has the maturity to make their own decisions and to understand the implications of those decisions.

Gillick competency applies mainly to medical advice but it is also used in other settings. Examples include if a young person:

• Would like to have counselling or therapeutic support but doesn’t want their parents/carers or guardians to know about it.
• Is seeking confidential support for substance misuse
• Has strong wishes about their future living arrangements
• Which may conflict with their parents’/carers’ or guardians’ views.

Technically TEEN FLASH isn’t ‘treatment’ but it may be considered ‘therapeutic support’.

Our thoughts are that we would always encourage you to tell your parents’/carers’ or guardians about your hope to attend TEEN FLASH. However if you don't want to do this, we would like to have a conversation with you to understand why, and, if appropriate, we could discuss whether there is another trusted adult in your life that you could tell.

On a practical level it will be difficult to disappear every alternate Saturday over ten weeks without giving your care givers an idea where you are going.

If you are sure you want to attend without your parents'/carers'/guardian’s knowledge or consent, we might suggest that we meet up for a coffee so that we could consider the Gillick guidelines as required in law.

This means we need to decide whether you are mature enough to make the decision to attend TEEN FLASH and fully understand what you are agreeing to.

Assessing Gillick competence

When meeting you we would have to consider several things before deciding whether we feel you have capacity to consent, including:

• Your age, maturity, and mental capacity
• Your understanding of the issue and what it involves
• Your understanding of any risks and implications and consequences that may arise from your decision.
• How well you appear to have understood any advice or information that you have been given
• Your understanding of any alternative options (if they are available)
• Your ability to explain a rationale around your reasoning and decision making

We would not agree consent if we thought you were being pressured or influenced by someone else to attend the programme. It has to be your sole decision.
In the unlikely event that we concluded that you were not Gillick competent to attend without your parents’/carers’ or guardians consent (maybe there were inconsistencies in your understanding) we could still work alongside you to tell your parents you would like to attend as we would then need their consent.

References:
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system/gillick-competence-fraser-guidelines accessed 12/08/2020
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/briefings/research-with-children-ethics-safety-avoiding-harm#article-top accessed 12/08/2020