About youth justice

What we do

‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is a famous proverb. For children and young people youth justice workers form part of that village.

 

As youth justice workers, we empower children and young people in custody to steer their lives in a more positive direction.

You will create safe and supportive environments by:

• establishing healthy routines and working to a daily structure
• redirecting anti-social and challenging behaviour to the positive standards expected by the community
• helping young people to develop positive family and peer relationships
• facilitating support from other services such as health and mental health providers.

The challenges we deal with

Many studies show that children and young people can make significant and lasting behavioural changes. However, they also have less capacity to regulate their emotions or understand consequences. This means that youth justice workers must sometimes work with young people behaving anti-socially.

There will be moments when you will have to soothe young people dealing with difficult emotions, while still maintaining vital boundaries. 

In your ongoing case management work, you will also seek to address the many factors that influence a young person's negative behaviours, including:

• disrupted education
• unstable housing
• alcohol and drug misuse
• abusive family environments.

Your work will be guided by the department's custodial operating philosophy.

Staff follow these principals to keep everyone in the precinct safe, while helping young people create a better life for themselves.

Download the Youth Justice custodial operating philosophy