Youth offending - referral orders

Referrals are dealt with by our Youth Response Team

Who are the Youth Response Team?
The Youth Response Team is concerned with ensuring the personal safety of young people aged 8 – 17 who associate with other young people involved in anti-social behaviour, or are directly involved themselves.

The aim of the Youth Response Team is to provide a fast, active service to young people who have been involved in anti-social behaviour.

Where possible, the young people are encouraged to become involved in positive, supervised activities.

This is to try and reduce the likelihood of them becoming involved in criminal activities and being socially excluded from their local communities. 

What are the first steps taken by the Youth Response Team?
The first steps of the Youth Response Team are to:

• take referrals from all the relevant agencies, including housing, community safety staff, police and other relevant services involved in identifying the problem 
• complete background research regarding the young people involved 
• gather information surrounding the incident reported, by liaising with the relevant parties
  

What happens next?
Following these first steps, the team’s response may include:

• An initial meeting with the young person/s involved and the relevant workers concerned. This may be through either a one on one meeting, home visits or in a group setting 
• Staff from relevant backgrounds best equipped to make an impact eg. youth worker, drugs worker, police officer 
• Meeting and engaging the children and young people to find out any underlying issues causing their anti-social behaviour 
• Plan with them ways to stop their anti-social behaviour 
• Advise and assist young people to gain access to supervised activities which they are interested in 
• Regular contact with their parent/s or carer.     

How can I make a referral to the Youth Response Team?
For further information, or to make a referral, please see contact details.