Page 3223 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 17 September 2013
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Before I speak on this change further, I want to give some background to this initiative. Our enhanced throughcare model came about because of the partnership between government and the community. A number of key community service providers joined forces in 2009 to create the Community Integration Governance Group or CIGG. The CIGG was formed by agencies such as the ACT Council of Social Service, Northside Community Service, Directions ACT and the Aboriginal Justice Centre, to name just a few, and was created to advocate for coordinated policy and service responses for ACT detainees.
The CIGG and government agencies such as ACT Corrective Services and the broader Justice and Community Safety Directorate, as well as the Chief Minister’s directorate, established a working group to map offender needs against services and the service delivery system as a whole. It examined access and equity, coordination and effectiveness. It also identified opportunities for improvement in current service delivery.
The working group report Seeing it through was released by the Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher, in December 2011. The key finding of this report was the importance of throughcare being available beyond the custodial environment in order to ensure that sufficient rehabilitative support is provided for offenders after release.
On the basis of the work done by this collaboration of community and government, a proposal was put to government to expand the delivery of throughcare. The government accepted this proposal and funding was identified to commence work towards implementing this initiative in the 2012-13 budget. This is a terrific example of how policy development can work, and signifies the incredible benefits of a whole-of-government approach. Community agencies identify a need. They work with government agencies to develop a response to that need. That proposed response is put to government for funding approval. Approval is given, and the learning begins.
The government allocated more than $1.1 million of funding in the 2012-13 budget to extend the throughcare model beyond the end of an offender’s custodial sentence. It was extended to support the transition of offenders into the community with the aim of reducing their risk of reoffending. The funding has been allocated to ACT Corrective Services for two years. The decision to put the funding to corrections was done on the basis that an integral component of the proposal was the identification of a central organisation responsible for throughcare policy, planning and coordination. This also recognises the crucial role that Corrective Services has to play in the broader justice arena, and the skills and expertise that exist.
So what is the funding doing? The funding creates a small throughcare unit established during the second half of 2012 within ACT Corrective Services to implement the model. The throughcare model in the ACT covers the period from release through to 12 months post-release and includes the following elements: a single point of service coordination, client-centric case management, services responsive to offenders’ needs, the establishment of links with providers prior to release and clear governance arrangements.
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