ydekm Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:50 am
83T'na wrote: Waireka wrote:
He is now a productive, contributing, law abiding member of society at 20 years old.
Rehabilitation can work, but it needs more $'s spent in the right places.
Considering most criminals start their life of crime before 20, targeting youth needs to be done more effectively. A lot of these kids end up in 'courses' <--- most of which are generally a bit of a joke.
The problem with a lot of the 'courses' and attempts at rahab is that's too 'hit and miss'. It will work well for some, but not others. Each case worker will have heaps of resources, but they'll use them for the wrong kids. Instead of asking those kids what they like best and want to be doing, they shuffle the kids between courses (akin to foster homes) and after a year or so give up.
Find out what they are good at and they will be far more successful at rehabilitating themselves.
Another problem with 'courses', is that they are not checked out or monitored properly. They'll put on a good show so they get the contract, but then fail the students in the end.
My son (unemployed, doing what WINZ tells him) just finished a course in hospitality and he was so unhappy with the way it was run. It took everything I had to convince him that completing it anyway looks way better to a future employer than not. The Ministry of Social Development got told actual lies about what kind of equipment there would be and how many staff were working there.
Case workers dont have that many resources...not sure why you think they do? TDO knows alot more about this subject than I do, he used to recruit kids from Child Youth and Family/Work and Income for training in South Auckland. Where as I worked with a lot of non-government organisations (like the one he worked for) raising their profile for social workers and encouraging colocation, collaboration etc.
I think you're being unrealistic - there is only so much funding avaliable, case workers, social workers and training centres dont have the money (or time, same thing) to spend holding hands with a teenager to find out what he wants to do with his life. And a one-size fits all/most is the most economic way to get things done (like Frup mentioned, many areas need a cash injection).
Often with the high-risk kids TDO and I have worked with, if you DO find out what a kid wants to do with his life, and you encourage him down that path, but every night he goes home and gets beaten by his drunk Dad with a beer bottle...chances are he isn't going to succeed. That doesn't mean those agencies/course providers haven't tried their best. It's pretty heart-breaking work at times.
No matter WHAT model is applied there are just too many risk factors at-risk youth face to help everyone. I doubt your son is considered high risk. And he isn't going to like how lots of things are run... doesn't mean the course didn't help someone else.
Also most training facilities don't get funding unless their students pass.... so they do care from a financial perspective. Students usually have to get successful employment after they pass - or go onto further studies aswell as pass an initial Work and Income-esque course.
It pays to remember ALL of these Work and Income courses are low-level (NCEA 1 or 2) and are aimed to get the participants into further education.
Also Tikva, really good to hear about your son and in terms of getting him his course materials: your son should be able to give you permission to access his studylink account (ie he needs to call Studylink and get you setup on his account) so you could buy his course materials on his behalf using his course related costs portion of his loan.