Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2020-2030 - Strengthening partnerships with children and young people, families and all services and professionals who support their rehabilitation and positive development

Addressing educational disadvantage and disengagement for young people involved in Youth Justice improves life outcomes, reduces the likelihood of reoffending and improves community safety.

Young people in Youth Justice custody receive education services delivered by the Department of Education and Training’s Parkville College. Parkville College operates at both the Parkville and Malmsbury precincts.

Key actions 2020–2024

In partnership with the Department of Education and Training and key service delivery providers, Youth Justice will:

• Improve attendance, participation and access to education and resources to support educational outcomes. This will involve building on the existing memorandum of understanding between Youth Justice and the Department of Education and Training.
• Introduce a new measurement system to gauge children and young people’s engagement in education while in custody.
• Link young people in contact with Youth Justice to free government-subsidised accredited training through the Skills First Youth Access Initiative, and support high-need young people aged 17 years and over to access vocational training to increase their employability through Reconnect.
• Support concurrent enrolment processes to maintain students’ existing relationships with community-based educators when a young person is in custody, and provide funding to support late enrolments for at-risk and vulnerable children.
• Consider how to improve age-appropriate education options for young people aged 18 to 24 involved in the dual-track system at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre.
• Embed parent teacher interviews with Parkville College, engaging with young people’s parents to support their education in custody.

Young people in Youth Justice can face additional barriers to employment, due to interrupted education, lack of experience, or the soft skills required to navigate paid employment.

To help overcome these barriers, Youth Justice works collaboratively with the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions to link young people to services designed to meet their employment needs and to improve the work readiness of children and young people in Youth Justice.

Key actions 2020–2024

In partnership with the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions and key service delivery providers, Youth Justice will:

• Find jobs and mentoring and training opportunities for young people on Victorian Government funded projects through the Out for Good partnership, a new alliance between government, private industry and the community sector.
• Register more young people in Youth Justice with employment services, and help more young people to be supported into jobs. This includes work to increase young people’s job readiness through helping them to secure personal identification documents that will allow them to engage with employment services and supporting them to identify suitable future employment goals.
• Continue four regional employment pathways brokers to identify local vocational training options for young people and refer them to local Registered Training Organisations.
• Address system-level barriers to employment, including employer recruitment practices, by formalising collaborative service delivery between the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions and Youth Justice through a new Partnering Agreement.

Children and young people need safe, stable and supported housing if they are to successfully rehabilitate in the community. Housing is a crucial issue, and we are considering ways to address the varied housing and support needs of young people.

Key actions 2020–2024

In partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and key service delivery providers, Youth Justice will:

• Explore options to support young people to stay in the family home where it is safe to do so.
• Deliver the Youth Justice Transitional Housing Program and review and improve it so it meets the developmental needs of young people. Consider the support arrangements through the program as part of the review of the Youth Justice Community Support Service.
• Embed the Youth Justice Homelessness Assistance Service provided through VincentCare, which supports young people exiting custody to find accommodation and access housing and homelessness supports and services.
• Trial the Link Youth Justice Housing Program (through Jesuit Social Services and VincentCare). This is a head-lease arrangement, which provides intensive case management support and housing to young people in Youth Justice.
• Provide accommodation options through Perry House and Dillon House. This involves supervised and supported accommodation for young adults involved, or at risk of involvement, with the criminal justice system.
• Support young people to access mainstream housing and homelessness services available to all young people in the community, such as crisis and medium-term housing, and longer-term social and public housing.

Mental health

Strengthening mental health responses and services for all Victorians is a key priority for the government, and the subject of the ongoing Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. Young people in Youth Justice frequently present with complex mental health needs.

Key actions 2020–2024

In partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and key service delivery providers, Youth Justice will:

• Inform and respond to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, which is examining how the current mental health system operates and the way the system connects with the broader social service and justice systems, including Youth Justice. The Royal Commission’s interim report made recommendations that will benefit young people in Victoria, including to fund additional acute mental health beds and a new assertive outreach and follow up care service for children and young people who have self-harmed or are at risk of suicide.
• Support early intervention services for at-risk young people through the Community Forensic Youth Mental Health Service.
• Improve access to mental health services for young people in Youth Justice through the Youth Justice Mental Health Initiative, which helps young people get relevant mental health services and provides expert support to case managers.
• Support provision of mental health advice and information to the Children’s Court to inform bail, remand and sentencing decisions through the Mental Health Advice and Response Service.
• Design the Cherry Creek Youth Justice facility with a dedicated health and mental health facility to ensure young people who need more intensive mental health assessment, treatment and monitoring can receive it in custody.
• Consider opportunities for additional responses to meet the mental health needs of other young people in Youth Justice, including girls and young women, in parallel with the ongoing work of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
• Support young people to address complex mental health needs and offending risks through access to primary mental health services and acute inpatient mental health services.
• Support the delivery of three youth forensic beds at Footscray Hospital.

Disability

Children and young people with disability in Youth Justice need specialised services and supports so they can participate in a way that they understand, supports their rehabilitation and reduces their risk of reoffending.

Key actions 2020–2024

In partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Disability Insurance Agency and key service delivery providers, Youth Justice will:

• Support the operation of the Forensic Disability Program to support young people with cognitive impairment to address their offending behaviour, including through specialist assessment, intake, referral, accommodation and services.
• Employ a Youth Justice senior disability adviser so young people are supported in custody to address their disability needs. This role provides information and advice to staff on disability issues and services.
• Embed the Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Screening Questionnaire (CAIDS-Q). This will allow Youth Justice staff to identify young people with intellectual disability and refer them for clinical assessment and further support.
• Maximise the benefits of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) by referring young people with disability to the NDIS Complex Support Needs pathway. This will also involve piloting a specialist service response to facilitate access to the NDIS and to maximise supports.
• Improve coordination and integration of NDIS processes and funded supports with the justice system.

Alcohol and other drug use and dependence

Addressing the harmful use of alcohol and other drugs among young people involved with Youth Justice is essential to improving their health, promoting their development and reducing the likelihood of further offending.

Key actions 2020–2024

In partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and key service delivery providers, Youth Justice will:

• Support young people in Youth Justice to access alcohol and other drug services and supports designed and delivered to meet their particular needs. These include new offence-specific and non–offence specific alcohol and other drug programs being delivered in custody and the community as part of the new suite of youth offending programs.
• Embed on-site alcohol and drug treatment capability at the new Cherry Creek Youth Justice facility.
• Refer and support young people to access outreach, withdrawal services, supported accommodation services and residential rehabilitation.
• Support young people to access regional support through the development of a new 20-bed youth residential rehabilitation facility being developed in Traralgon. This will provide 24-hour services to young people aged 16 to 21 years old experiencing problematic substance use. It will support behavioural change through social and life skills development, relapse prevention, individual counselling and group work.

Respecting the agency of young people, supporting their families, and ensuring they have a voice in Youth Justice is fundamental to delivering a child-centred response. This means engaging regularly, providing information that is understood and relevant, and being genuinely open to their participation. It is not only a key ingredient for promoting the rehabilitation of each child and young person, but also the ongoing improvement of the youth justice system. We also need to recognise the importance of a trauma-informed approach and the need to strengthen connection to culture.

Key actions 2020–2024

Youth Justice will:

• Develop options to more regularly engage with children, young people and their families to inform future directions and the implementation of the key actions in this strategic plan, and the construction of the new Cherry Creek Youth Justice facility. This includes direct engagement with children and young people in Youth Justice about initiatives that affect them through the Parkville Youth Congress and Youth Leadership Council.
• Using the findings from the Ngaga-dji (hear me) project, engage with Aboriginal children and young people in policy, practice and program design and implementation.