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• Residences outdated – not ‘fit for purpose’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