Practices in Juvenile Rehabilitation Centers: Issues and Suggestions. Mohd Taufik bin Mohammad Azlinda Azman, PhD

Transcription

1 Practices in Juvenile Rehabilitation Centers: Issues and Suggestions Mohd Taufik bin Mohammad Azlinda Azman, PhD

2 Practice in Juvenile Rehabilitation Center In Malaysia: Social welfare = social work? Juvenile institutions is more social welfare, than social work Provision of basic needs: Food, drinks, etc. Shelter Spiritual needs Leisure activities There is a lack of intervention programs to enhance these young offenders social functioning

3 This can be problematic, because (based on observations): One resident reported that he was actually thinking of joining a gangster group because he learnt about survival in the institutions At least there were 3 relapse cases of 15++ residents in the time of practicum (15%) Multiple residents said that they disliked some of the staffs there because of their demeanors If only basic provision needs are provided, then what would be the difference of the residents living in the rehab center and at home?

4 Some Major Issues Observed The attitudes of the welfare workers in the center The treatment plan offered by the institution The job scopes of the workers The institution s roles in treating the young offenders

5 The Attitudes of the Welfare Workers in the Center Observations: General attitude problem Yelling and insulting the residents Distrusting the residents Ignoring residents when complaining about sickness, etc. Professionalism Public conflict between staffs

6 Juvenile delinquents are a sensitive group of individuals and they respond very well to the reaction of the society (Hoffmann, 2011) But still, despite of this, welfare officers in the institution always resorted to yelling and insulting when any of the residents made a mistake Perhaps this is contributed by their punitive attitude (Baron & Hartnagel, 1996) Punitive attitude is when someone believes a person deserves to be punished after making some mistakes

7 Punitive attitude might be contributed by the fact that social work is still new in Malaysia Why attitudes are important? Better attitude contributes to better work performance in a rehab center (Schwalbe & Maschi, 2009) Better performance means the offenders get to live in an institutions that is filled with positive help

8 The Treatment Plan Offered by the Institution Observation: Staffing problem Lacking social work- or psychology-related professionals Some welfare officers in the institution detached themselves from the roles of a social worker No clear treatment programs for the young offenders An institution is a system with various sub-systems working in it.

9 Members of a juvenile institution need to have a sense of integrity, accountability, and most importantly, ownership to the institution in mention (Dempsey, 2007) Why it is important to design proper treatment plan? Offending is related to social, emotional, and behavioral needs (Neely-Barnes & Whitted, 2011) Recognizing these needs can prevent recidivism, which is the goal of the establishment of this center after all If institutions only provide basic needs, then it would not be any different than the juvenile delinquent to live at home with parents who are trained to monitor their children

10 The Job Scopes of the Workers Observation: The center consisted of several admin staffs, a driver, several security officers, a religious officer, a mother, and several welfare officers However, job scopes are mostly administrative The staffs were only sent to many psychosocial seminars, but never seemed to practice the knowledge Kau buat apa yang kau patut buat datang kat sini (referring to the student s practicum). Biar kami buat kerja kami (referring to the administrative works)

11 Social workers play various important roles, which can be ambiguous (Suppes & Wells, 2000) This can affect job performance, which can be seen from the staffs in the center Modern role of social workers a case manager (Fook, 2002) should be nurtured among the welfare workers in the center But this raises the issue of worker-client ratio

12 The Institution s Roles in Treating the Young Offenders Observation: Too beraucratic Macam mana nak hantar hospital? Takde polis nak meneman Takpe, biar depa tahan dulu Sabtu Ahad ni, waden pun tak ada nak bagi tandatangan Distant upper management

13 Institutions need to move from being custodial to being more evidence-based (Vinter & Janowitz, 1959; Shields, 2011) To be more evidence-based, institutions need to be more flexible in planning treatment programs But, flexibility depends on upper management that can be too distant

14 The Needed Competencies It is a necessary step to enhance the needed competencies among the welfare workers, the institutions, and students who undergo a practicum in a juvenile rehabilitation center

15 Suggestions: A healthy ratio of staffs to residents Tailoring the programs in the center around the needs of the residents that include the utilizations of a counselor, educator, therapist, and also recreational facilitator Knowledge on handling children can be imperative in practices and needs to be enhanced In the Malaysian welfare institutions, for example, services for children are divided into three: protection, rehabilitation, and protection with rehabilitation these divisions are not necessarily separate The individual skills of the welfare workers need to be monitored (i.e. attitude, communication skill, etc.)

16 A Graphic Illustration Juvenile rehabilitation center Attitudes, communication skills, awareness of the needs of the young offenders, competencies Larger governmental departments Upper management Staffs (i.e. welfare workers, admin staffs, etc.) Young Offenders Allow more flexibility, be aware of the needs (i.e. staffing, resources) of institutions under it, be less bureaucratic