Monday 13 December 2010

New scheme puts families at the heart of helping to prevent youth crime


 
A scheme, which is taking a new approach to help to stop young people in Bath and North East Somerset from offending and re-offending, is being launched tomorrrow.

 Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Youth Offending Team, a multi-agency team which comprises Bath and North East Somerset Council, NHS B&NES, Police, Probation and Connexions, has secured funding from the Department for Children, Families and Schools to run the Family Intervention Project.

The Family Intervention Project has already had success in other areas of the country and works by offering support to the whole family to help prevent problems from happening.

When a young person is identified as being at very high risk of offending or re-offending, and where other approaches have not helped, a dedicated key worker will be assigned to a family to address issues that may be causing concern around their child’s behaviour. In addition, families will also be offered practical support on housing, employment, health, education, benefits and debt.

The Family Intervention Project will complement other work carried out by the Youth Offending Team, for example the Compass project has been running for over 6 years. Compass aims to divert young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour by ensuring young people have the support they need from agencies in B&NES, and through the provision of direct support to them from a dedicated Compass keyworker.

For further information about the Family Intervention Project please email FIP@bathnes.gov.uk. More information about the Youth Offending Team can be found at www.bathnes.gov.uk by navigating to the Youth Offending Service pages through the A-Z index.