Development of a Youth Justice Disability Action Plan - Improving outcomes for young people with a disability involved with Youth Justice

Directorate: Strategy & Engagement

Division: Youth Justice

Project summary

The development of a Youth Justice Disability Action Plan aims to address the over-representation of young people with a disability in the criminal justice system and improve outcomes for young people with a disability and their families. It develops and promotes a more flexible model of service delivery which provides early NDIS referral and implements timely and targeted supports.

Focus Area: 

• Improving access to mainstream services through better systems and processes.

Project objective

The project seeks to:

• examine the current ways in which other criminal justice jurisdictions work with young people with disabilities
• develop a Disability Action Plan using the Disability Issues Paper, staff consultation, data analysis and literature review
• document the current Youth Justice initiatives, formal and informal, that work effectively with young people with disabilities
• provide advice on future actions required relating to service delivery, programming and training to improve service provision to young people with disabilities

The challenge

Young people with disabilities are considerably over-represented and have earlier and more frequent contact with the criminal justice system.

Often these disabilities have been previously undetected, undiagnosed or inconsistently reported.  Processes required to gain a diagnosis and refer to appropriate supports are complex and difficult to navigate.

Young people with disabilities have more complex crininogenic needs, with behaviours often interpreted and responded to through a criminogenic rather than functional framework.

This project aims to streamline inconsistencies in diagnosis, NDIS referral and implementation of necessary supports, so that best outcomes can be achieved for each young person.

Why is this important?

The benefits of this project include having an agreed direction for Youth Justice to improve services to young people with disability:

• through diversion and early intervention
• by equipping them to reach their full potential through targeted supports and accessible interventions
• by reducing barriers to appropriate assessment and diagnosis, accessing NDIS, advocacy services and other supports
• by upskilling staff.

What will success look like?

With the development of the Disability Action Plan, Youth Justice will have a clear direction to improve it's service to young people with a disability. At the end of implementation of the Plan Youth Justice will be a more youth-centric service which listens to the individual needs of each young person with a disability and their family, and will respond in a culturally sensitive, therapeutically targeted manner to ensure best outcomes for each young person.

Youth Justice will have implemented routine screening of all young people involved with Youth Justice to ensure timely identification, diagnosis and referral. Youth Justice staff will also be more skilled to recognise and correctly progress any presenting disability issues, and provide ongoing referral, support and advocacy for each young person with disability.

Using accessible resources, interventions and programs which meet the individual needs of each young person, Youth Justice will provide a more equitable service to young people with a disability and their families. Data collection will also be streamlined to identify and respond to young people with a disability more efficiently and effectively.

How will you measure success?

Youth Justice will include a monitoring framework as part of the Disability Action Plan implementation to monitor changes in outcomes and service delivery satisfaction for young people with a disability in contact with Youth Justice.

Summary of key stages

Status report

Current Status: Progressing

Date: September 2023

Status Notes:

June 2022 - 30 of the 38 projects have commenced and are on track, with good progress. Five projects have not yet been scheduled to commence. 

September 2023

Continued delivering actions under the Youth Justice Disability Action Plan. Achievements this period include:

• 26 Disability Champions were established across all centres and regions. Champions provide advice and support, and an escalation pathway to enhance the support provided to young people with disability. 
• Three virtual lunchtime events were delivered to Youth Justice staff between Jun 2022 and December 2022. These “Disability Roundtable” events were delivered in partnership with the DCJ Disability Employee Network, providing supporting resources to hiring managers to encourage recruitment and retention of staff with disabilities. 
• NDIS training module delivered to 170 staff. 
• The Youth Justice consent form was updated, which includes an easy read brochure to support young people’s understanding of the consent process. 
• A FASD research project was undertaken. This made 10 evidence based/best practice recommendations for Youth Justice to optimise its response to young people presenting with FASD.
• An Allied Health project has commenced and is funded to June 2024. This project makes Speech, Communication and Language Needs assessments available for young people.
• Sensory rooms are being developed in each Youth Justice Centre to enhance support for young people requiring sensory intervention.  
• Two projects are completed. One project is cancelled

Status Explanatory Note:

Status reports provided: