In Rehabilitation of Youth Offenders: Supports Provided to Family Members

The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG) and the Hong Kong Police Force New Territories South Region jointly launched “Project R” in June 2012. This is the first operation of its type in Hong Kong, it provides specialized services including crisis intervention, counseling and family support services for the arrested youths (aged from 10-24), victims of the crime and their family members. When the teenage children are under arrested, parents are usually shattered emotionally, much more than their children. Self-blame conflict between parents and their teenage children are common reactions to this stressful event. Parents need immense support from society. They are more likely to be victims of youth crime. Meanwhile, juvenile under arrested and awaiting trials are susceptible to emotion problems, suffering from society mainstream system and lack of supports, perpetrator can be prescribed as victims as well. After two years of experimentation, Project R collaborated with City University of Hong Kong to develop an assessment tool to assess the risk of youth reoffending and conduct evaluation on effectiveness of the intervention model. Based on pre-post test results, it is found that social worker involvement (in terms of total number of service hours devoted) was significantly correlated to positive changes in client risk levels. A significant correlation was also found between social worker involvement (in terms of duration of services devoted) and positive changes in client risk levels. In summary, a client’s risk level of reoffending is more likely to decrease if he or she has received adequate service from social workers. With evidence-based research, the Project R confirmed the effectiveness of the new intervention model titled “Tribasic Model of Delinquency Prevention: Five-Step Recovery through Life Coaching”. This paper highlights the service details of Project R and research impact of the evaluative study.