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Youth Service Centre (Toa Payoh) undertakes youth-related social services. It works with youth-at-risk referred from the Youth Court and the Police (for the Attorney-General’s Office) to mitigate wayward behaviours. The Centre also runs
OUR WORK
YOUTH SERVICE CENTRE //(TOA PAYOH) diversionary programmes which aim to stabilise youth behaviour, and mentoring programmes which give youth and their families positive role models to emulate. The Centre also manages a drop-in centre, RoundBox @ Singapore Children’s Society.
BEACONWORKS BeaconWorks is offered to youth who exhibit less serious delinquent behaviour at the Beyond Parental Control (BPC) Pre-complaint Screening stage. It is a voluntary diversionary rehabilitative programme to help youth and their families stabilise existing relationship issues.
BEYOND PARENTAL CONTROL (BPC) PRE-COMPLAINT SCREENING Under Section 50 of the Children and Young Persons Act, Chapter 38 stipulates that a parent or guardian of a child or young person (under the age of 16) has the power to bring his or her charge before the Youth Court should the child be deemed Beyond Parental Control.
Behaviour*
No. of Cases in 2015
Truancy
272
Running away
270
Staying out overnight
234
Smoking
188
Violence
176
Theft
159
Moral risk
127
Drinking alcohol
57
Addiction
53
Suicide/self-harm
45
Dishonesty and defiance
37
Gang
36
Tattoos and piercings
35
Substance abuse
30
Abuse and trauma
19
Police investigations
19
Public nuisance
16
Bully/bullied
16
*Each youth may reflect multiple behavioural problems.
ANNUAL REPORT 2015
In 2015, 433 cases were screened. The most common complaints lodged by parents involved youth truancy, running away from home and staying out late. The Court also saw an increase in the number of cases involving youth who were close to 16 years old, which suggests that parents will only pursue the BPC order as a last resort.
39 Most Common Youth Complaints
SINGAPORE CHILDREN’S SOCIETY
Every Friday at the Youth Court, our team of social workers and counsellors screen complaints from parents wishing to pursue the BPC order. At this preliminary stage, we refer some cases to be mediated at our Youth Service Centre (Toa Payoh) office and a few to diversionary programmes for intervention.
To better cater to our youth and their families, the programme structure was revised in 2015. The duration of the programme was shortened from six months to three months, and it was also offered to youth from RoundBox @ Singapore Children’s Society. In 2015, 14 families were involved in BeaconWorks.