A Fresh Start for young offenders

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When young people offend, we want to
help them face up to it, make amends,
and get their lives on track so that they
can be sorted, safe and strong:
sorted
ted
sorsafe
safe
strong
strong
by learning from mistakes
and gaining new skills
by making good choices
with a great future ahead.
Contact Child, Youth and Family
at 0508 FAMILY (0508 326 459)
www.cyf.govt.nz
FRESH START
“It’s a big challenge to try
and turn lives around, but
these young people deserve
another chance in life.”
social worker
Young people who commit offences
should be held to account, but they
also need the right support and interventions to address their offending behaviour
and turn their lives around.
Fresh Start builds on work we are already doing in the youth justice sector,
enabling more effective approaches to addressing youth offending.
By expanding and extending the range of youth justice interventions, we can
work more intensively, and over a sustained period of time, to help young people
get their lives on track.
Every child or young person who comes to our
attention will require a unique response.
Fresh Start places a greater focus on
identifying and addressing the underlying
causes of the young person’s offending
behaviour. By managing young people on
the basis of their risk to the community
and themselves, and what needs to
be done to reduce that risk, we
can better target resources.
outcomes:
The road to better outcomes lies in building on the gains that have been made,
evolving the things that work, and building and supporting stronger and more
responsive services.
We will know we are making a difference when we impact on these key outcomes
for children and young people and their communities:
1
2
The community is safer
3
Young people’s behaviour,
attitudes and values are improved
The right service is provided
to the young person, and their
family, at the right time.
A Fresh Start for young offenders
our priorities
1
we will respond to community
needs and expectations
We want communities to feel safe, and confident that we are responding
appropriately to youth offending. We also want to empower communities to
develop their own solutions and early intervention options to address the needs
of at risk children and young people. We will:
• ensure responses and interventions are appropriate to the level of risk posed
by the young person, and that those at higher risk are appropriately
supervised during the course of their intervention
• partner up with key community agencies to deliver services and programmes
to young people who offend in their communities
• engage with our communities, so that we are aware of all the service options
available to support young people
• encourage communities to deliver their own solutions to local youth
offending problems
• work with our iwi and Mäori providers in the development of solutions for
Mäori children and young people.
2
WE WILL strengthen family group
conference decision making
The FGC is the most important process in youth justice. By strengthening
practice around engagement, information gathering, assessment and analysis,
prior to the FGC, we can enable participants at the conference to make more
informed decisions, and develop more appropriate responses for the child or
young person. We will:
• give FGC participants full information about risks, needs, strengths and options,
so that families can make informed decisions
• screen young people to identify alcohol and drug misuse, mental health issues,
risk of suicide, and health and education needs
• assess the strengths, risks and needs of young people, and identify their level
of offending related risks
• ensure the family group conference involves all the right people, including
family members, victims, and professionals
• inform the family group conference and the Court of the identified risks and
needs, and appropriate intervention options available.
3
WE WILL actively manage the
family group conference plans
It’s important that the FGC plan is supported and closely monitored, to make sure
that everything agreed is actioned and working well. We also need to ensure the
plan is reviewed and evaluated to determine whether the desired outcomes for the
young person, the victim, and the community have been achieved. We will:
• give each task a completion date, and check things get done
• stay connected with the young person, to monitor any changes in their
situation, attitudes and behaviour
• measure outcomes through reassessment at various points of the young
person’s journey.
4
WE WILL team up to achieve
In everything we do, we will work as one team to effectively meet the needs
of each young person, reduce re-offending rates, and ensure the community
is kept safe. We will:
• work with our colleagues in sites and residences, to ensure a joined up
approach with young people
• specifically include care and protection for dual status cases
• link up with Work and Income to ensure young people are connected with
training and employment opportunities
• work with health and education to ensure assessments and screenings are
completed for children, and high-risk young people
• work closely with iwi and pacific providers, to ensure the cultural needs of
our young people are met.
team up
5
WE WILL help create a bigger,
better, brighter future for each
young person
To ensure a bright future for each young person, we must acknowledge the
child or young person’s strengths, and identify ways to build their self-esteem and pro-social attitudes and behaviours. We will ensure:
• children and young people are encouraged and helped to participate in decision
making, to help them ‘own’ the plan
• the underlying causes of the child or young person’s behaviour are identified
and addressed in an individualised way
• each family group conference considers whether the young person
should attend a parenting, mentoring or
alcohol/drug programmes
• children and young people have safe
living environments, and that the FGC
considers whether parents or caregivers
should attend a parenting programme
• plans focus on engaging the child or young
person in purposeful activity, education,
training or employment.
6
WE WILL make sure victims
are engaged and supported
in the FGC process
We want victims of youth crime to feel safe, supported and to have their say.
Having victims attend the family group conference helps both the victim come to
terms with how the crime affected them, and helps the young person to face up
to what they’ve done. We will respect the interests and views of victims by:
• ensuring every victim is invited to attend a family group conference
• giving victims other options to have their views heard if they can’t attend,
for example someone else attending on their behalf or writing a letter
• keeping victims informed about the young person’s progress
• ensuring reparation payments agreed in
the plan are kept on track
• seeking victims feedback, to ensure that
our services are effective, supportive and
meet their needs.
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“Young people need the opportunity
to succeed. So many times when you
get to know them, you hear stories of
how they’ve always been told they’re
‘useless’. They need someone to build
them up, help them find their potential
and show them there are opportunities
out there for them.”
social worker
CYF145 Aug 10