FOR any young kid exposed to an unimaginable life of abuse, domestic violence, homelessness or drug and alcohol abuse, the easy option would be turning your back on the world.
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So many of our young people at risk of turning to a life of crime have not been given every shot at engaging with society and so more often than not, become disengaged and thumb their nose at the law.
What follows is a turbulent journey through a revolving door of crime and imprisonment, with no shot at long-term rehabilitation.
But one local program is proving invaluable in breaking down the cycle of youth re-offending by teaching at-risk kids to love themselves.
So effective is the Youth Insearch program that a Tamworth magistrate insists it’s the only youth support program he’s seen work consistently in his 25 years behind the bench.
Some kids enter the camp at Lake Keepit so angry that they present in a fetal position.
After just one weekend in the intensive program, the same kid can be seen running around as a completely different person.
It can be all too easy for a young person who hates themselves to take their anger out in a way we don’t understand – but it takes courage to want to re-engage with the same world that turned you against it.
Sadly, the Youth Insearch program will lose its federal government funding of $400,000 in June next year because of a reshuffle in the Department of Social Services’ funding streams.
If the government cuts funding for the program, what message is it sending to our youth?
There has been much debate in recent weeks over troubled youth driving up Tamworth’s recent break and enter spike.
This program does far more long-term good for a kid than locking them up and throwing away the key ever could.
It deals with underlying problems that can often be the cause of re-offending.
You can’t put a price on a child’s well-being. But even when you crunch the numbers, $40,000 is much cheaper than the nearly $500,000 it costs to keep a juvenile in detention for a year.
This magistrate is at the frontline of youth crime and is more privy to the high re-offending rate than anyone else. We must hope the decision makers, including our local MPs, throw their weight behind the fight to keep such an important program alive.
