PSA welcomes youth justice recommendations

The PSA welcomes the recommendations contained in the Youth Justice Capability Review released today by the Minister for Child, Youth and Family.

PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott said the PSA had been involved in the review and was pleased to see the positive steps recommended to improve the delivery of youth justice services and alleviate the pressure on social workers who juggled heavy caseloads.

“The formation of specialist youth justice teams will go a long way to assist in the department’s capacity to deliver youth justice services where there has been a shortfall. These social workers will be able to concentrate solely on assisting young offenders which will be beneficial for them, for their families, and for the community.

“It’s good to see an acknowledgement that the department has been under-staffed and under-resourced, and to receive some assurance that something will be done about it.

“Youth justice is, however, a specialist area of practice and we would be looking to ensure that these social workers receive the required training, supervision, and policy support.”

Brenda Pilott said there may be some challenges for the department in recruiting the nearly 50 more social workers which the report says will be required, but the recent pay settlement achieved by the PSA for its social worker members at Child, Youth and Family – 11% over two years – may help.

Brenda Pilott said the PSA was pleased to see the report recommend a benchmark for caseloads of 18 per social worker and it would be desirable to see a similar workload applied to other areas of social work.

ENDS

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