By Nick Toscano:
Melbourne youth workers are calling on the Brumby government to release a long-overdue policy framework that would bolster supports for vulnerable young people.
Jesuit Social Services and the Victorian Council of Social Service said the Vulnerable Youth Framework had been developed to “guide and strengthen” government responses to youth homelessness, poverty, crime, drug abuse and mental health problems by earmarking areas in need of more focus or funding coordination. The framework was meant to be finalised last year but never passed the discussion paper phase.
Shadow Minister for Youth Affairs Hugh Delahunty said with no framework to guide spending or coordinate youth services, the Brumby government was funding programs on an ad-hoc basis. “It’s now been two years since the original discussion paper was released. They’re dragging their heels on this, and in the meantime, many young people have been disadvantaged,” Mr Delahunty said.
Health organisations, youth workers, city councils and community services were invited to submit to a discussion paper in 2008. They congratulated the government for focusing on the needs of vulnerable young people, calling it a “ground-breaking document” which would identify and fill the gaps in supports across the state. The Victorian Council of Social Service, in its submission to the discussion paper, pointed to mental health and general counselling supports as the biggest gaps in the system.
VCOSS Deputy Director Carolyn Atkins said supports in Victoria focus on the consequences instead of the causes of problems facing vulnerable youth.
“For a young person who may not have developed a mental illness, but may be worried about something at school or at home, there’s nowhere they can go to just get some support to help keep them on track,” she said. “The only supports that exist in Victoria at the moment are crisis-based, when what we need are supports that are early on and at a local level.”
Jesuit Social Services CEO Julie Edwards praised the “whole-of-government” approach of the Vulnerable Youth Framework, linking government departments of Youth Affairs, Community Services, Education and Children & Early Childhood Development. Ms Edwards said the framework was a step forward in reaching a more coordinated, integrated approach for delivering youth services.
“What would be great is if government starts lining up its funding streams in this way, because what happens at the moment is you get funding from different government departments that all require different data collection,” she said. ”The system is fragmented and divided against itself.”
Social workers have long been calling for greater government focus on the delivery of youth services because adolescence and young adulthood are critical stages of brain development.
“Around 16 per cent of brain development takes place during these years. Experiences of trauma, whether that be through mental health difficulties, family violence, alcohol and drugs, can seriously impact on that brain development,” Ms Atkins said.
The state opposition supports funding of the framework.
“Under Labor, no focus has been placed on early intervention programs to address the causes of vulnerability and disadvantage,” Mr Delahunty said. “The Brumby government has had more than 11 years in office and $340 billion in revenue, yet youth workers’ pleas for a greater focus on early intervention continue to be ignored.”
Share on FacebookNick Toscano is a freelance journalist and producer of the youth current affairs show on Melbourne-based SYN radio. syn.org.au/panorama
