A Healthier Pathway for Children and Young People in Contact with Youth Detention in Victoria

Young people in youth detention carry a disproportionate burden of unmet health need, including high rates of mental illness, neurodevelopmental disability, substance use, physical health conditions, and trauma exposure. Many of these needs have gone unidentified and unaddressed long before a young person enters the criminal justice system. Youth detention represents a critical opportunity to identify and respond to these unmet health needs, yet Victoria currently lacks the infrastructure to do so.

Victoria’s Pathway to Good Health program was established to respond to these same complex health needs for children in statutory care, delivering coordinated health screening, assessment, and referral for all children entering or re-entering care statewide. Unlike a standard referral service, the program is built around a dedicated health navigator role that gathers health histories, coordinates assessments, and maintains engagement over time. Eligibility does not, however, extend to young people in detention – a setting that shares many of the same population characteristics and health needs.

This project examined whether the foundations of Pathway to Good Health could be adapted to work in a youth detention setting. Drawing on consultations with 24 stakeholders across Pathway to Good Health service providers, youth detention health staff, and government and sector representatives, our report sets out 13 recommendations for developing, piloting, and evaluating an adapted model of coordinated healthcare for young people in detention and after release in Victoria.

The Justice Health Group has secured additional philanthropic funding to conduct workshops with young people who have experienced detention, to ensure that their perspectives are considered alongside these findings prior to the design and pilot of any adapted model.

Funding: Brian M Davis Charitable Foundation (report), Belinda Kendall-White (workshops with young people)

Project team: Sarah Pellicano, Dr Gustavo Hermes Soares & Professor Stuart Kinner, with expert input from Dr Karen McLean and Dr Mick Creati