Child, Youth and Family
Chris Polaschek
Issues of concern in the late 90s and early 2000s
• Youth Justice underperforming
• Loss of skills, capability and focus
• Generic teams
• Ineffective interventions for chronic offenders
• Lack of consistent practice and procedures
• Capacity issues
• Residences outdated – not ‘fit for purpose’
• Serious incidents highlight issues
• Loss of confidence by key stakeholders
• Focus on accountability and less on the needs of the young person
Our response to the issues
Youth Justice Capability Review (2003)
• Creation of 25 dedicated youth justice teams that will focus on their own communities
• Youth justice social workers, youth justice coordinators and youth justice practice advisors working together as part of youth justice teams, under a youth justice manager
• Enhanced relationships and partnerships in the youth justice sector and communities of interest
• Better monitoring - Clearer accountability
• Strengthening leadership
• Youth Justice Process Mapping – hyperlinked to YJ Manual
Our response to the issues – continued
• New Youth Justice Residences that are purpose built, with a more therapeutic environment. Increasing bed capacity at Te Puna Wai and Youth Justice Central
• A renewed emphasis on addressing the unique features which lead young people to offend including understanding the offending in the context of a young person’s needs
• Youth Justice Practice Framework
• Comprehensive and refreshed approach to training
Key Partnerships
• Police
• Health
• Education
• Community Agencies
• Iwi – cultural groups
Challenges that we face
• Remains a group of ‘hardcore’ young offenders
• Maori disproportionately represented in the YJ system and in the hardcore group
• Changing demographics – being responsive
• Remains challenging to work across agencies to provide integrated services
• Programme provision is inconsistent and many are not able to demonstrate effectiveness
• Balance between local and national contexts – what we do and how we work with others
• Credibility of the Youth Justice services
Strategic Direction
Leading for Outcomes 2007 – 2010
Key Objectives
• To reduce rates of offending and re-offending in the community
• Youth Justice to be a high performing service
• To work ‘smarter’ with other agencies and service providers
• Outcome focused residential services
Next 12 months
What we are doing to meet these in the next 12 months – be active and focused in:
• Embedding a cycle of continuous improvement in service delivery
• Building effective working relationships
• Gather and share information
Going Forward – YouthJustice Teams
• Establish a cycle of continuous improvement
• Use Quality Assurance and research to inform progress
• Find the balance between national and local solutions
• YJ teams actively integrate into the sector and their communities
• Localized plans for reducing re-offending in their communities
• Individualized training approach
Going Forward - Building Effective Relationships
• Strengthen YJ Teams – building ‘communities of interest’ around teams
• Enhance information exchange – develop common data sets
• Build relationships with family/whanau
Encourage communities by:
• Active engagement – build on and to existing networks
• Purposeful engagement – leadership opportunities sought and taken to support communities
• Identify, support and promulgate effective programmes
Going Forward - Gather and Share Information
• Proactive in establishing stakeholder feedback loops
• ‘Best practice’ identified and shared both internally and externally
• Consolidate our own information needs
• Share information with key partners, in an appropriate way
• Explore the potential for shared training
Going Forward - YJ Residences
• Increase capacity – YJ Central
• Resolve staffing challenges
• De-isolation
• More holistic case management – Health, Education, Cultural
• Improved transitions back to the family and community
• Quality effective programming
• Better alignment of all the components in the residential environment so as to increase safety, mitigate risk and produce lasting change
Thank you