Oranga Tamariki can confirm the 12-month Military-Style Academy pilot has concluded, with 8 participants completing the program.
“We have seen some really heartening changes in these young people over the course of the last year, changes that both they and their whānau should be extremely proud of, as are all of our kaimahi who have worked alongside them for the duration of the pilot,” Deputy Chief Executive of Youth Justice Services Iain Chapman says.
“The majority of the young men took opportunities presented to them during the 3-month residential phase and the 9-month community phase that followed and applied themselves with a real desire to make a change to their old patterns of behaviour,” Mr Chapman says.
Early in the community phase we made a commitment to these young people, to not speak as openly about their individual cases, as they expressed to us it felt like it was placing them under undue pressure. Now that the pilot has concluded, we are able to speak a little more about some of the successes and the challenges.
“It’s positive to reflect on what we’ve seen in these young men’s lives, like the two participants who have found their way back into sport, with one being selected for a regional team. Many of these young people have been part of the workforce during the pilot, from hospitality work to labouring.” Mr Chapman says these are “steps on the right path that have arisen as a direct outcome of their participation in the pilot.”
“It’s not just the outcomes for these young men’s activities in the community that we’ve focussed on either, but their health and the support for their families,” Mr Chapman says.
We know that long term prevention requires us to take a holistic view, for example participants were able to access specialist medical and dental care, and the majority of the group’s parents remain engaged with a parenting support service.
Mr Chapman says, “it’s this type of support that we believe will give these young people the best possible chance of success into the future.”
The death of one of the participants in a road accident early in the community phase presented a challenge for many of these young people, who had grown close over the preceding months together in residence.
“We know for many of these young people this presented an immense challenge and the effect of losing a mate will be with them well after the pilot’s conclusion,” Mr Chapman says.
Going into the pilot, one of the key aims for Oranga Tamariki was to see a reduction in the frequency and severity of offending by the pilot’s participants. We can confirm during the 12-month pilot, 7 of the participants reoffended to a threshold that required them to return to residence for a time.
Mr Chapman says:
“We always expected that reoffending would occur, given these young people were selected for the pilot because they were identified as some of New Zealand’s most serious and persistent young offenders.
"We knew that wasn’t something we could change overnight, but what we wanted to be able to see was that reducing, and we genuinely believe we have.
“For the majority of those who did offend, the offending was less serious, and we saw longer periods of time without reoffending than we previously had”.
Next steps
Oranga Tamariki, other agencies and community providers will continue to work with the 8 participants and their whānau to ensure these young men continue on their new pathways.
A final evaluation of the pilot is currently being prepared and expected to be completed later this year, which will help shape future programmes moving forward.