A Queensland Government funded Intensive Bail Initiative has been launched in Toowoomba, further boosting efforts to ensure community safety
A Toowoomba Intensive Bail Initiative service has been established to support the Queensland Government's work to improve community safety, while tackling the complex causes of youth crime.
The Queensland Government is funding the service as part of its commitment for tougher action on youth crime and its causes, and for putting community safety first.
The service operates in Townsville, Caboolture, North Brisbane, Logan and the Gold Coast.
Toowoomba CatholicCare Social Services is receiving $1.94 million over two years to run the initiative for offenders on youth justice orders, including those subject to a conditional bail program and electronic monitoring.
The new service has already worked with 19 young people and their families.
The Intensive Bail Initiative complements other successful Toowoomba initiatives, including a new co-responder team whose work includes bail compliance checks; intensive case management of high-risk offenders; parenting support; drug rehabilitation; and detention where there is an unacceptable risk to community safety.
Young offenders typically experience complex issues such as drug and alcohol use, poor mental health, disability, childhood trauma and are often disengaged from school. The new service in Toowoomba places an emphasis on practical interventions, including:
- support to help young people comply with conditions.
- case work with family members of offenders with complex and extreme needs, including making young people's households safer and more stable, as well as improving parenting.
- a community connector to follow-up referrals from the new youth justice co-responder team in Toowoomba, such as those for specialist services dealing with health, disabilities, and drug and alcohol misuse.
The investment builds on other work undertaken by Toowoomba CatholicCare Social Services, which includes operating Toowoomba and Remote South West Bail Support Services to address factors that can contribute to offending.
The initiative uses the knowledge and experience of local service providers to ensure local solutions.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Youth Justice Di Farmer:
"We all know how important it is for Queenslanders to feel safe – and to be safe.
"It is an absolute priority for the Palaszczuk Government and this program being delivered locally by CatholicCare Social Services is yet another way we are working to address serious repeat offending by young people.
"We are listening to the community and victims of crime who have asked us to do more work in this area.
"That's why we strengthened Queensland's youth bail laws in 2021 and again early this year – including making breach of a bail condition an offence.
"However, we recognise serious repeat offenders almost always have complex needs and need a great deal of support to turn their lives around.
"The Intensive Bail Initiative in Toowoomba connects young people with the right mix of support at the right time.
"It recognises the crucial role of parents and guardians in providing stability and safety at home, and works with existing services, including youth co-responder teams, to stop offending."
Quotes attributable to Kate Venables, executive director of Toowoomba CatholicCare Social Services:
"Over the past four and half years, we have operated bail support services in Toowoomba and the remote south west.
"Our established team of workers is acutely aware of the local services and supports available for young people and their families caught up in the youth justice system.
"I'm pleased to say 95 per cent of the young people we have worked with over time have demonstrated a positive change in education, employment, cultural connectivity, general health and substance use.
"This extra funding and expansion of services has given us greater opportunities to support young people to create positive change in their lives.
"By continuing our collaborative relationships, we are ensuring the needs of families and young people remain central to everything we do."
