Another doorway opens for at-risk youth

Mission Australia, in partnership with Juvenile Justice in NSW, has opened a new rehabilitation centre for youth with drug and alcohol problems.

The 50-acre property located on the banks of the Macquarie River, in regional New South Wales, has been completely remodelled to cater for eight young people aged from 13 to 18 at a time.

The new centre provides a welcome rural setting for youth to receive individualised programs including therapy, counselling and education.

James Toomey, Mission Australia’s National Operations Support Manager, told Dubbo’s Daily Liberal that the program is followed up for a further six months of outreach work after the youth leave The Mac River Centre and re-enter their community.

A community support worker will support the young person and their families when they leave the centre to help prevent relapse.

“The program is unique because of the age group targeted. Because it is aimed at 13- to 18-year-olds. It is recognised there is a need, that their age group isn’t catered for,” said Mr Toomey.

Juvenile Justice NSW Deputy Chief Executive, Valda Rusis, told The Daily Liberal that the centre aims to support young people though education and vocation to lead to a productive and healthy life.

"We have strong community networks in the area. We view this facility as a great example of a community working together to achieve good outcomes for these young people," Ms Rusis added.

This program is based on the model developed at Mission Australia’s Triple Care Farm and will help the youth learn routine responsibilities of rural life such as, feeding chickens, tending a vegetable garden and raising poddy calves.

Have your say, young Australians: Mission Australia’s National Survey of Young Australians will draw to a close in just over two weeks time, so act now if you want to be heard.

Photo:  from left, Mission Australia’s Ann Winterton, Talbragar Wiradjuri descendent Coral Peckham, Deputy Chief Executive of Juvenile Justice Valda Rusis, James Toomey of Mission Australia and Juvenile Justice’s Leonie Bender.

Photo courtesy of The Daily Liberal

Media coverage - Sydney Morning Herald: Juvenile detainee findings a ‘damning indictment’

A government reporting revealing that half the young people in NSW juvenile detention facilities were abused as children, and nearly 40 per cent of the girls were sexually abused, is a "damning indictment of approach to juvenile justice," said Mission Australia's State Director Leonie Green in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

Herald journalist Adele Horin wrote that the Justice Health and Juvenile Justice report painted a bleak picture of young people in the state's juvenile prisons. It reveals that nearly one-third of the girls have been pregnant, with the average age of first having sex 13.1 years for Aboriginal youngsters and 13.6 for non-Aborigines.

Thirteen was also the average age the detainees reported first being drunk.

The 2009 NSW Young People in Custody Health Survey also states that more than 27 per cent of incarcerated young people (and 40 per cent of young women) had a history of foster or kinship care.

Ms Green said the current approach to juvenile justice relied too heavily on locking up young people and not enough on diversion programs.

"When you look at the population of juveniles in custody, how can anyone believe that detention is an appropriate response?" she asked.

"These young detainees are a product of years of violence and neglect, and many have intellectual disabilities."

According to today's Herald, between the last health study in 2003 and the 2009 survey, the proportion of incarcerated youngsters who are Aboriginal rose from 41.7 per cent to 47.8 per cent, while they represent 4 per cent of the state's adolescent population.

Read Adele Horin's article here 

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