Award of Intensive Youth and Family Worker Services to Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation Primary Health Care Service

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DCSSDS awarded a contract to Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation Primary Health Care Service for the provision of Intensive Youth and Family Worker (IYFW) services under the Family Wellbeing Service (FWS).

The IYFW positions respond to families where children are at risk of, or already in contact with, the youth justice system.

The IYFW support case planning by undertaking separate engagement with adolescents where appropriate and supporting their involvement in family planning.

They also foster connections with youth justice and youth support services to ensure that families coming to the attention of these systems can more easily access support.

Through these positions, families of young people at risk of becoming involved in the justice system can be assisted to develop family plans that address risk factors and re-engage young people with positive sources of support in their kin network, schools and community.

The initiative aligns with the Queensland Youth Justice Strategy, which identifies improved engagement of families as a key strategy to reduce the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the youth justice system, where they form 70 per cent of those on remand and 78 per cent of those who have been sentenced to a period of detention.

The IYFW will participate in the IYFW Reference Group meetings managed by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families Commissioning Team.

The target group is young people under 18 years of age who are at risk of involvement in the Youth Justice system, and their families, including siblings of young people involved in the system or young people becoming involved in high risk or antisocial behaviour but who have not yet been charged.

The contract value is AUD 900,963 and was procured via a limited process.