Page 1948 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2022
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An additional $5 million from federal Labor will enable further upgrades to conserve heritage values and improve functionality at the complex, including fit-for-purpose, safe and inclusive workspaces for artists, as well as spaces for the community to experience arts activities.
Youth justice—Functional Family Therapy program
MRS KIKKERT: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Assistant Minister for Families and Community Services. Minister, in annual reports hearings last year, you told me, “We needed to have programs like the Functional Family Therapy—Youth Justice pilot up and running.” Three months later you told this Assembly that this program was “a great example of investment in whole-of-family support for children and young people” and said, “I commit to working on diversion initiatives such as functional family therapy.” Then in estimates hearings, an official said, “It is an incredibly successful program.”
Minister, we have been told that you have decided to provide no further funding for this program after August. Is this true, and, if not, what exactly is happening with the program, going forward?
MS DAVIDSON: I thank Mrs Kikkert for the question. The program that she is talking about, the Functional Family Therapy—Youth Justice program, was a pilot program. No such decision about ongoing funding, or not, for the program has been made as yet. As with all pilot programs, the pilot runs for a period of time and then there is an evaluation of the program. The Functional Family Therapy—Youth Justice program is an evidenced-based program that achieves high program completion rates, with children and young people remaining at home, rather than entering the statutory care system, and staying engaged with their schooling, wherever possible. It engages with a quite diverse group of clients.
In early 2021 the pilot program was established through an initial allocation of $380,000 for a six-month period from the confiscated assets trust. A further six-month funding of $380,000 was also obtained through the confiscated assets trust program to support a continuation of the pilot. In order for a pilot to become an ongoing funded program, it would need to go through a business case process and a budget process.
MRS KIKKERT: Minister, what will happen to the at-risk young people in the Functional Family Therapy—Youth Justice program who will not be able to finish before funding runs out, and what will happen to the at-risk young people who are currently awaiting intake?
MS DAVIDSON: Thank you for the supplementary question. The Functional Family Therapy program is, as I was saying earlier, a pilot program. When a pilot program is established it has a known end date, and that impacts on the intake of new referrals into the program as the pilot program nears its end date. There are a number of other programs that are running through our youth justice services that will be able to support people, should they need ongoing support, after the pilot program has ended. I can provide some further details, if there are particular people that you are concerned about.
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