It has been nine years since I last walked out of the Adelaide Youth Training Centre. As
someone who experienced the criminal legal system as a young person, I know how damaging it can be.
I still consider myself a newbie to the roles of Guardian, Child and Young Person’s Visitor and Training Centre Visitor, with four months having passed since I began. All I can say, four months in: I am worried… and you should be too.
With 8 weeks left before independent OPCAT oversight aimed at preventing abuse or mistreatment in places like youth detention centres and police cells is set to come into force, Australian governments are still not ready.
Staffing shortages and protocols aimed at limiting the spread of covid have exacerbated the fraught environment at Kurlana Tapa, according to the latest Training Centre Visitor Annual Report.
Meet our latest law intern, Gabriella Roy. Gabriella will examine the effects of the Covid pandemic on children and young people in Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre.
Do you have a child or young person in your care who would like to ask a question to Shona, the new Guardian?
The power of food and the role it plays in our everyday lives often goes unnoticed. But for the children and young people within Kurlana Tapa Youth Justice Centre, their food-related experiences are very different.
As I settle into my new roles, I am greatly aware of the huge honour it is to take on the very important work of Guardian, Training Centre Visitor and Child and Young Person’s Visitor.
As Penny Wright’s term draws to a close, she reflects on the last five years as Guardian and Training Centre Visitor and the privilege it has been to work with the children and young people along the way.
A safer, more inclusive society for children and young people in care and detention, that honours their voices and respects their rights. That is the vision that leads our new strategic plan.
We acknowledge and respect Aboriginal People as the traditional owners
and custodians of the land we live and work on, their living culture and their unique role in the life of South Australia.