NAAJA YOUTH THROUGHCARE PROGRAM

NAAJA’s Youth Throughcare Team seeks to support young Aboriginal people in contact with the criminal justice system and their families through the provision of case management support.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

We have Alice Springs and Palmerston-based Teams, both comprising a Youth Team Coordinator, a Senior Youth Justice Worker and two Intensive Case Managers.

The Senior Youth Justice Workers:

The Senior Youth Justice Workers work closely with lawyers assisting young people with matters before the Youth Court to ensure perspectives about a young person’s social and emotional wellbeing are considered alongside their legal circumstances. They help young people and their families identify and address their needs (particularly those that contribute to them getting into trouble), and to come up with a plan that their lawyer can put to the Court to prevent them going into detention, or to get them out if they are already there.

In order to be eligible for senior youth justice worker support, participants will:

• be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent;
• be between the age of 10 and 25 provided the referral is received and allocated before the young person’s 18th birthday;
• have a matter before the Youth Justice Court;
• be in need of intensive support;
• be engaging voluntarily.

Referrals for NAAJA’s Senior Youth Justice Worker for support can be made directly to the SYJW or via email through completing a NAAJA Throughcare Referral Form  (DOC or PDF) and forward it to referrals-throughcare@naaja.org.au

Case Management Support:

Our Case Managers support Aboriginal young people preparing to leave detention through the delivery of intensive, high quality case management service provision that continues post-release.
Case management support is provided to help young people and their families develop strong and holistic post-release plans that address their goals, risks and transitional needs. We start working with young people who have already been sentenced and their families up to six months before they leave detention; and provide post-release case management support for as long as they wish to remain involved and there is an identified need.

We can provide similar support to un-sentenced young people who are remanded in custody at a detention centre, but note we often have much less than six months to develop a plan and must work closely with lawyers and other statutory services. The main purpose of this intervention is to help young people and their families develop community-based plans that can be put to the court as an alternative to custody when they are being sentenced. If successful, Throughcare can continue to provide post-court case management support for as long as the young person wishes to remain involved and there is an identified need.

Because we are primarily a post-release support service, we are generally unable to provide assistance to young people if they are likely to be on remand in detention for more than 6 months and/or they are likely to receive a custodial sentence of longer than six months. However, we can commence engaging with them once they fall into criteria.

The Youth Throughcare Team takes a collaborative approach to their work and will involve relevant service providers and stakeholders, but in particular is keen to work alongside a young person’s family.

In order to be eligible for case management support, participants will:

• be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent;
• be between the age of 10 and 25 provided the referral is received and a case manager allocated before the young person’s 18th birthday;
• be in the Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre or the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre; and,
• be engaging voluntarily.

For any and all enquires, please contact the Alice Springs based Youth Team Coordinator on 08 7902 9311 or the Palmerston based Youth Team Coordinator on 08 8931 7400.