Page 4556 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 18 October 2011
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project to develop a sector-wide workforce development and reform strategy has begun. A number of the recommendations in the HRC report will be actioned as part of the development of this strategy.
Finally, children and young people now retain the same case manager regardless of whether they are in a community setting or at Bimberi. This model provides enhanced through-care and a more seamless service for children and young people who often move between community and custodial settings.
A larger project to introduce single case management across the Office for Children, Youth and Family Support has also recently commenced. Action is also underway across other directorates. We know that young people who start to disengage with school are often at risk. In the Education and Training Directorate, work is underway to create a second suspension support team and to identify suspension contact officers in all ACT schools. A professional learning package will be developed for schools that outlines the role of suspension support teams and of good practices in the suspension process, post-suspension interviews and re-entry meetings.
Also, in the Education and Training Directorate, new initiatives that will provide alternative support and resources to young people in the Murrumbidgee Education and Training Centre are being implemented. Additional vocational training programs for students have been developed and an Indigenous transition officer position has been created to work with students and staff on culturally appropriate programming at the centre and to support the re-engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in education, training or employment upon exit from Bimberi.
Improved communication, relationships and coordination between Bimberi management and the education centre staff have been implemented through the Bimberi change management project. In particular, a deputy principal has been appointed to lead the Murrumbidgee Education and Training Centre, and support from the Education and Training Directorate for teaching staff has improved remarkably.
Finally, the Education and Training Directorate are providing assistance to young people regarding submission of applications for day release for the purpose of education, training or employment. In the Health Directorate, nursing staff visit young people in their units where it is in their best interests. Also in the Health Directorate, a “train the trainer” course on the safe distribution of medication for Bimberi staff has been delivered.
Additionally, the Health Directorate is reviewing a range of operating procedures that deal with the role of the treating doctor or nurse in relation to the documentation of injuries sustained by young people at Bimberi following the use of force and consent to treatment. Broad work has commenced in the Health Directorate as part of the model of care that supports mental health services to implement a development model of care for young people in the youth justice system.
In May 2011 the ACT Policing and Restorative Justice Unit in the Justice and Community Safety Directorate entered into an agreement for ACT Policing to refer all eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people into restorative justice.
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