What Do We Do?
Suffolk YOS works predominately with young people who have offended and have received a final warning or an order of the Court (a referral order, a reparation order, an action plan order, a supervision order or a detention and training order - this list is not exhaustive).
The YOS identifies the needs of each young offender by assessing them with a national assessment tool - ASSET. It identifies the specific problems that make the young person offend as well as measuring the risk they pose to others. This enables the YOS to identify suitable programmes to address the needs of the young person with the intention of preventing further offending. These programmes nearly always include an element of Restorative Justice. That is direct or indirect work with and or for their victim.
So What's Special About Suffolk Youth Offending Service?
Suffolk YOS has focussed on creating close and effective links with its partner agencies. It uses these links to help ensure the often vulnerable young people it works with become 'socially included' into the community and in doing so reduces the offending risk they present to the public. Equally it utilises a wide variety of specific evaluated 'offending behaviour tools', many of which it developed itself, in its direct work with these young people. These are aimed at helping them understand why they offend and how they can change their behaviour.
Suffolk YOS piloted the introduction of Referral Orders and the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme. It has also developed a prevention strategy that includes the use of a Youth Inclusion and Support Panel in the Ipswich area and Youth Inclusion Programmes in the rest of Suffolk. It has developed a Positive Futures scheme throughout Suffolk.
Currently Suffolk is developing a Mentoring scheme and building on it's already well developed Parenting Programmes.