Trauma-informed youth justice case management: A policy audit and survey of staff perspectives

Youth justice services have recently shown interest in developing and implementing new models of practice. Trauma-informed practice has emerged as a promising approach to the case management of justice-involved young people in this context. However, little is known about the extent to which a trauma-informed approach is consistent with current practice or the extent to which guiding policies support and embrace core trauma-informed principles. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the extent to which a youth justice service might be considered receptive and ready to adopt a new model of care. This study reports the findings of a policy audit and workforce survey of community youth justice staff in one Australian jurisdiction, South Australia. Content analysis of 28 policy documents indicated modest alignment between the jurisdiction’s youth justice case-management policies and key principles of trauma-informed practice. Descriptive statistics obtained from workforce survey responses (n = 34) indicated strong endorsement of these principles by youth justice case managers in relation to both individual practice and to case-management administration. Practitioners also identified opportunities for supporting workforce development in trauma-informed practice, reflective practice and policy and organisational reform. The findings suggest a need to review and update the current policy suite to provide an authorising environment to support the implementation of trauma-informed practice. This paper advances knowledge about the type of jurisdiction-wide strategic planning, and the development of policy, needed to enshrine trauma-informed principles – specifically: safety; trust and transparency; choice; empowerment; collaboration; and cultural, historical and gender responsiveness.