ACCOUNTABILITY
Everyone who intervenes with young people and their families should be held accountable for the delivery of an appropriate, quality service.
EMPOWERMENT
The resourcefulness of young people and their families should be promoted by providing opportunities to use and build their own capacity and support networks and to act according to their own choices and sense of responsibility.
PARTICIPATION
Young people and their families should be actively involved in all the stages of the intervention process.
FAMILY CENTRED
Support and capacity building should be provided through regular developmental assessment and programmes that strengthen the family’s development over time.
CONTINUUM OF CARE
Young people at risk (and their families) should have access to a range of differentiated services on a continuum of care, ensuring access to the least restrictive and most empowering environment and/or programme/s appropriate to their individual developmental and therapeutic needs.
INTEGRATION
Services to young people (and their families) should be holistic, intersectoral and delivered by an appropriate multidisciplinary team wherever possible.
CONTINUITY OF CARE
The changing social, emotional, physical, cognitive and cultural needs of young people and their families should be recognized and addressed throughout the intervention process. Links with continuing support and resources, when necessary, should be encouraged after disengagement from the system.
NORMALIZATION
Young people at risk (and their families) should be exposed to normative challenges, activities and opportunities, which promote participation and development.
EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT
Service provision to young people and their families should be rendered in the most effective and efficient way possible.
CHILD CENTRED
Positive developmental experiences, support and capacity building should be ensured through regular development assessment and programmes, which strengthen the young person’s development over time.
RIGHTS OF YOUNG PEOPLE
The rights of young people as established in the UN Convention and the SA Constitution should be protected.
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
The approach to young people in trouble with the law should focus on restoring societal harmony and righting wrongs rather than punishment. The young person should be held accountable for his or her actions and where possible compensate the victim.
APPROPRIATENESS
All services to young people and their families should be the most appropriate for the individual, the family and the community.
FAMILY PRESERVATION
All services should prioritise the goal to have young people remain within the family and/or community context wherever possible. When a young person is placed within the continuum of care, services should aim to retain and support communication and relationships between the young person and his/her family (unless proven not to be in the young person’s best interests), and maximize the time, which the young person spends in the care of his/her family.
PERMANENCY PLANNING
Every young person within the continuum of care should be given within the shortest time possible the opportunity to build and maintain lifetime relationships within a family and/or community.
Overview of Centres Projects
