Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation

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# of offences Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation A review of young people’s offending records was possible for 15 young people who are current clients and/or received mentoring for several months, mostly since March 2003. The change in the number of instances of offending behaviour is shown in Figure 9. This includes offences for which there were convictions, detentions, orders, family conferences, and/or formal cautions. It does not include breaches of orders. Lines in green indicate a decrease in offences, while the red lines show increases. It demonstrates that Panyappi worked effectively with a range of young people to reduce their offending behaviour, from those who were at an early stage in their juvenile justice career to those who were on their way to an entrenched career. 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 Figure 9: Change in offending behaviour 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Length of time with Panyappi (months) The greater majority (12 young people or 80%) decreased their rate of offending by 25% or more – often much more (70 – 100%). Five young people have not offended since their involvement with Panyappi. This is a substantial achievement given the very high rates of offending for some of these young people over the previous one to three years. One young person (6.5%) decreased their offending behaviour by less than 25%, as they struggled to engage with the program for 3 months during which time most of the offences occurred - currently the young person is not offending. Two young people (13.5%) have increased their offending. One cannot receive regular mentoring support as they live in a rural area, but Panyappi connects with this young person on their occasional trips to Adelaide. This has greatly limited progress and the ability to work with the young person’s family and community network. For the other young person, the offending - 38 -
Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation occurred early in the mentoring process then stopped altogether after 4 months of being with Panyappi and further offending has not occurred. Young people and family themes The six themes outlined here do not stand independently but intersect and reinforce each other like threads in a tapestry. We have teased them out so that each aspect is addressed, as well as being seen as part of a whole picture. Each theme commences with Susie’s evolving story that was introduced on page 1 – it may be useful to revisit her story prior to reading the following sections. A turning point Susie agreed to mentoring with Panyappi because she knew it was important to her Mum. She is really worried about her and doesn’t want to cause her Mum any more traumas. She checked this out with another young person at school who is a good friend, and also talked to the AEW who had been looking out for Susie as she knew that the family and Susie were having a difficult time. Susie meets with Mary, one of the Panyappi mentors, and they start to build a relationship although Susie is hesitant about how much she should say and what Mary will think or her. Susie slowly warms to Mary because she is not like her teachers or the police. Mary doesn’t give her a hard time about school, even though she says it will be important for Susie. Mary wants to know more about what Susie likes to do and why, and what things especialy l interest her. They talk about family and Mary lets her call her Auntie Lily each week to tell her know what she is doing. Even though she doesn’t like it there and there are still hassles to sort out, after a few weeks she stops skipping school as much and only stays away when her Mum needs her. She asks her Mum for permission to go out more often, although she still goes into the inner city. It is reasonably common that the young people accepted into Panyappi have had some or many people involved with or concerned about them. A few of them have slipped the net entirely, having disconnected from schooling at an early age and spent much time on the street. Others live with their families but are confused and unsettled because they have often experienced significant losses, been exposed to violence or substance misuse, and almost always been subjected to racism at a personal level and within the education and human service system. Many young people, family members and program collaborators reported that previous efforts to address the situation had been limited or unsuccessful. Every young person and family member interviewed reported that there was not, or they did not know if there was, an alternative service that could assist them in the way that Panyappi had. For example, one family member said: “ Without this he’d be nowhere.” - 39 -
Page 1 and 2: Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring
Page 3 and 4: © Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentor
Page 5 and 6: Beginning the Story… Panyappi Ind
Page 7 and 8: Executive Summary What is Panyappi?
Page 17 and 18: Program funding Panyappi Indigenous
Page 21 and 22: JUSTICE Strong support from the Cri
Page 29 and 30: ATSIC recently reported: Panyappi I
Page 37 and 38: Evaluation questions Panyappi Indig
Page 41: Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring
Page 71 and 72: Support for mentors Panyappi Indige
Page 75 and 76: Weaving the Threads Together Achiev
Page 77 and 78: ω ω ω Panyappi Indigenous Youth
Page 83 and 84: Recommendations Panyappi Indigenous
Page 85 and 86: Outcome Formative or process Append

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