At-risk youth found by Police on the streets at night without a responsible adult will be taken to a safe place under a new initiative announced today.
From today, experienced child protection workers from the Department of Territory Families, Housing and Communities (TFHC) will be located alongside Police at the Alice Springs Police station and at a central Safe Place in Palmerston.
When Police see a child on the streets without a responsible adult, and there are concerns for the child’s wellbeing, the Police can make contact with the child protection worker and transport the child to the police station or Safe Place if they can’t quickly locate a responsible adult.
The child protection workers will assess the child’s circumstances, and seek to return the child to a safe place. Where this takes time, the child will be looked after.
The increased and immediate availability of child protection staff, rather than an on-call system, will speed up the process and allow Police to get back out on the beat sooner.
It will also mean TFHC professionals can respond to concerns about children’s safety and wellbeing.
This trial will run until 4 February 2024 as part of a series of summer safety strategies, which will see TFHC co-responders in place between 10pm and 6am Monday to Thursday, and 24/7 from Friday to Sunday and on public holidays.
These youth and their families will also be followed up on the next day to assist with determining appropriate responses.
The pilot is in addition to existing funded services and support working across agencies to respond to youth most at-risk in Alice Springs, including Youth Outreach and Re-engagement Teams, 24-hour child protection, On the Right Track and Youth Justice teams across the Territory.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Territory Families, Ngaree Ah Kit:
“No child is safe wandering the streets in the middle of the night and we all have a responsibility to keep kids safe.
“Our co-responder pilot puts specialist staff from Territory Families, Housing and Communities on the ground with police to help manage the complexities of youth crime and antisocial behaviour, and to ensure children and their families are accountable and get the support they need.
“This pilot is part of our coordinated prevention and response to manage the risk of increased crime and anti-social behaviour in Greater Darwin and Central Australia over the summer months.
“We’re working to ensure the most appropriate responses are immediately available to ensure the safety of the community and the wellbeing of children and young people.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Police, Brent Potter:
“This trial program will free up police resources and allow our frontline officers to be back on the road patrolling our communities quicker.
“Having our frontline police work hand in hand with Territory Families, Housing and Communities will deliver a better outcome for our young people and will keep our police on the roads and patrolling our streets where we need them.
“The Territory Labor Government supports our police. I will continue to listen to our frontline police officers and make the changes they have asked for to make their jobs easier and the Territory safer.”
Northern Territory Government
