Lawyers, children's advocates, call for SA's Youth Treatment Orders program to be scrapped
A controversial program allowing young drug-dependent South Australians to be detained against their will for treatment should be scrapped, a government review has been told.
While the SA government states the aim of its Youth Treatment Orders (YTO) program is to "protect and support children", lawyers, children's advocates, and drug and alcohol services want it gone.
"It's a very expensive experiment," SA Network of Drug and Alcohol Services executive director, Michael White, said.
"Scrap the program altogether and invest the money in assertive engagement with young people."
According to the government the YTO program "was the first of its kind in Australia".
In its current form, the scheme allows SA's Youth Court to order drug-dependent young people who are already detained at Adelaide's youth detention centre to receive mandatory treatment, if they refuse to engage in programs voluntarily.
As part of a legislated review now underway, the government is considering expanding the scheme to allow the court to order any drug-dependent child in the community to be detained for mandatory treatment — irrespective of their involvement in the criminal justice system.
Laws granting such powers passed state parliament with bipartisan support in 2019, but the legislation is yet to be fully implemented.
"Most young people who have a severe alcohol or drug dependence do not require mandated treatment, they require intensive, assertive care," Mr White said.
"At the minute, we see very little funding going into early intervention, prevention, or education around alcohol and other drugs, and we do not see enough funding going into assertive engagement and long-term support for young people."
In February, the Attorney-General's Department (AGD) sent a discussion paper to a select group of organisations and individuals, asking them to provide feedback on the YTO program.
The department initially refused an ABC News request for a copy of the document, but it later handed the paper over in response to a freedom of information application.
According to the document, since the YTO program launched in 2021, only one child has been assessed for drug dependency, but they were not ordered to undergo mandatory treatment.
That is despite independent modelling by the University of Adelaide estimating that up to 44 detained children would need to be assessed for drug dependency issues each year, and five would require mandatory treatment.
A department spokesperson told ABC News it had been difficult to predict the actual take-up rate of the YTO scheme, as it was an "entirely new program".
They said the department spent almost $7,000 on services provided to the child who was assessed for drug dependency, on top of $179,760 required to establish the YTO scheme.
"AGD has continued to monitor the YTO scheme to assess demand and resource implication," the spokesperson said.
In a submission to the department, SA Law Society president Marissa Mackie wrote that she found it "difficult to understand the rationale for any further expansion of the scheme", given the low take-up rate.
She wrote the YTO program had "tension" with Australia's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
"[The YTO scheme] is not consistent with medical evidence or good practice in dealing with drug addiction," she wrote.
Guardian for Children and Young People Shona Reid, who in 2023 stepped down as the "YTO Visitor" responsible for monitoring the program, said Adelaide's youth detention centre was not equipped to provide healthcare to young people experiencing drug dependency.
"We can't detain our way out of youth drug use," she said.
But SA Parole Board chairperson Frances Nelson told ABC News the YTO program was useful and should be expanded to the broader community.
"If you detain young people, you provide them with an external structure to deal with their problems when they don't have the internal strength to do it themselves," she said.
"You also take them away from an environment which obviously is unhealthy for whatever reason.
"If you can deal with young people taking drugs, they're less likely to become adult criminals, so I think there are benefits to the young person and to the community."
Ms Frances said while early intervention programs were important, there needed to be a "last resort" option if voluntary treatment was not working.
"It's no different as a measure of philosophy to detaining unwell people under the Mental Health Act for their own safety," she said.
The department is required under legislation to complete its review by November 21.
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