New bail support services to help young people in Toowoomba

Published Monday, 15 April, 2019 at 01:01 PM

Minister for Child Safety, Youth and Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence
The Honourable Di Farmer

A new bail support service funded by the Palaszczuk Government is helping to keep young people in Toowoomba from entering detention.

Visiting the BALING Program run by CatholicCare Social Services in Toowoomba today, Minister for Child Safety, Youth and Women Di Farmer said the service would receive $750,000 in funding over the next two-and-a-half years to run the program.

“Bail support services provide the support that’s needed for young people to do what they need to do to meet the requirements of their bail and stay out of detention,” she said.

“It may be linking them with mental health or drug and alcohol support, with transport assistance, or simply encouragement to stay on track.

“This service is called BALING meaning ‘fresh start’, and will provide young people with access to legal representation and support to meet the conditions of their bail.”

Ms Farmer said Bob Atkinson’s report into youth justice highlighted that many children who offend for the first time will never re-offend.

“The majority of young people in detention are on remand, and it’s not unusual for young people to be remanded in custody instead of released on bail because they don’t have a safe and secure home to stay in while awaiting court,” she said.

“We also know that young people who go into detention are more likely to reoffend.

“This is why we have invested $17 million into bail support services to keep young people out of remand and out of youth detention.”

Executive Director of CatholicCare, Kate Venebles said the organisation was really looking forward to working with the young people and their families and using our experience gained through years of working in the region.

“Our workers are committed to making connections, walking alongside and supporting the young people to achieve some personal goals as well as reduce the overrepresentation in the justice system,” Ms Venebles said.

Ms Farmer said extra funding from the Queensland Government was expected to have a significant impact on remand and custody rates by making sure at risk young people had access to support services to help them.

“This new service is about changing the story for young people.

“We want to deliver ways to keep communities safer and reduce youth reoffending across the state.”

ENDS

Media contact: Cat Milton 0447 117 132