Youth Services

Services for refugee young people

People aged less than 30 years on arrival now comprise the significant majority and a growing proportion of new entrants to Australia under the Refugee and Humanitarian Program. In recognition of the particular needs of young refugees, there are now a range of specialist settlement services targeting newly arrived young people.

To download the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council’s Strategy for Refugee Young People, click here.

General settlement services

There are youth-specific components and services within the Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (HSS), Settlement Grants Program (SGP) and Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).

Humanitarian Settlement Strategy

One of the guiding service principles of the HSS is to ‘Give particular attention to the needs of children and young people’. HSS service providers are required to ensure all humanitarian entrants aged between 15 and 25 years who live with their families have individual Youth Sub-Plans developed by case managers. The Youth Sub-Plans are designed to identify goals for the client’s educational and/or employment, recreational, social, sporting and orientation needs, and strategies to achieve these goals. If needs arise for young people that cannot be met by HSS then case managers are required to take timely and responsible action in referring to either Complex Case Support or other specialist programs and services.

Settlement Grants Program

Of the 219 grants announced in the 2010-11 SGP funding round, 31 were targeted at young people. For details of organisations funded to deliver youth-specific SGP projects, click here.

Adult Migrant English Program

A number of AMEP providers across Australia have developed classes targeting young people of post-compulsory school age who may not be eligible to access ESL in schools, but who have learning needs that are different from their elders. For more information about youth-specific initiatives within AMEP, download ‘Opening the Door’: Provision for Refugee Youth with Minimal/No Schooling in the Adult Migrant English Program. From 2011, AMEP services have been officially extended to 15 to 17-year-olds who have left school in the first year after arrival in Australia. AMEP Counsellors are responsible for liaising with local schools to facilitate the transition of young people who have dropped out of the school system into AMEP. In addition, and where numbers are viable, AMEP providers are now required to provide youth-specific classes.

Reconnect-Newly Arrived Youth Specialist (NAYS)

The Reconnect program uses community-based early intervention services to assist young people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and their families. Reconnect assists young people stabilise their living situation and improve their level of engagement with family, work, education, training and their local community.

From 1 July 2009, the Newly Arrived Youth Support Services (NAYSS) were incorporated into Reconnect as Newly Arrived Youth Specialists. There are 12 specialist Reconnect-NAYS providers, supporting young people aged 12 to 21 years who have arrived in Australia in the previous five years, focussing on young people entering Australia on humanitarian visas and family visas, and who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Reconnect breaks the cycle of homelessness by providing counselling, group work, mediation and practical support to the whole family. Reconnect providers also 'buy in' services to target individual needs of clients, such as specialised mental health services.

For more information about the Reconnect-NAYS initiative, click here. Contact details for the 12 Reconnect-NAYS providers can be found on the Reconnect-NAYS website.

National Multicultural Youth Advisory Network (NMYAN)

The National Multicultural Youth Advisory Network (NMYAN) was funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in 2009 to build the capacity of youth agencies and networks around the country to meet the needs of young refugees and migrants.

For more information about NMYAN, click here.

NMYAN is administered by the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) in Victoria. For more information, call CMY on (03) 9340 3700 or email info@cmy.net.au