What is youth policy and how does it influence the work of youth

workers?

There is a lack of a standard national definition of youth and youth related work including policy within
Australia. This has been widely acknowledged by the community and the workers including the youth
participants that this is a very mandatory requirement to have a successful youth policy. There has been
some literature where academics have tried to highlight the definition of youth and the youth policies.
(Ginwright, Cammarota, & Noguera, 2004) There seems to be a wide disparity in the definition of what
group of workers comprise of youth workers. There is a very broad range of stakeholders who interact
with the youth population like their teachers, neighbors, friends, government support staff etc. It has also
been argued that the obstacles to defining youth work have been in trying to find an embracing definition
It isnt difficult to talk about what youth workers dothe difficulty is to say what makes youth work
distinctive. (Youth Advocacy, 2015)

According to the most common definition, the youth population is defined as the group of people who
are between the ages of 12 and 24 years old. The youth population is unique in their responsibility as they
are the in-between groups with children on one end and adults on the other. The youth groups are seldom
missed during the formulation of public policies. The reason of this being that the government is focused
on devising policies for the young children that includes schools and child care while the adults are the
responsible people for the voting rights and thus their interests are catered for. (Ginwright & James, From
assets to agents of change: Social justice, organizing, and youth development, 2005)

The age group of 12 to 24 years is the period in an individuals life where they are shaped in regards to
their thinking, goals in life and the social etiquettes. The formal policies targeting the population within
this age group is known as youth policies. The people who work within the realms of these policies and
are responsible for the execution of these policies are known as youth workers. Majority of these policies
are devised through any of the three legislative bodies within Australia, the local councils, the state
government and the federal government. These three bodies of legislature design policies and programs
to ensure successful execution of these youth policies. (Ginwright & Cammarota, New Terrain in Youth
Development: The Promise of a Social Justice Approach, 2002) The youth workers are involved in
execution of these policies and they are the direct workers involved with the youth and thus they receive
feedback regarding the various policies. The youth workers are thus able to share their experiences and
feedback received from the youth population and are able to help shape the policies in general. (Lerner,
Almerigi, Theokas, & Lerner, 2005)

Various policies targeting the youth population are in place based on the support from local councils,
stage government and the federal government. There are overlaps between the three policies and a
consistent approach towards formulating youth policies needs more work. The local councils are more
concerned about the employment and education of the youth while the state government take on
responsibility for the ability of youth to safely navigate their formative years. The policies are determined
through a series of philosophical guidelines. The inputs for these guidelines are devised after consultation
of various bodies that work directly with the youth population. (Youth Advocacy, 2015)
The main key objective of youth policy is the ability to empower young people in their everyday lives. The
government youth policies attempt to provide support and services to the youth population in all areas
of life that are critical for the development of youth population. These sectors include education, housing,
employment, health and social security, unemployment, human relationships and recreation. The policies
attempt to induce the behavior of empowerment and ability to make ones own decision in the adult
world. It provides the insights and the moral ethics regarding the decision making and responsibility of
ones actions in the adult world. This also helps the young people comprehend the legal system and
develops an understanding of their choices and the outcomes. (Lerner, Almerigi, Theokas, & Lerner, 2005)

The young people are empowered to take decisions that affect their everyday life. The people who assist
them in making these choices or help in execution of their own taken decisions are broadly classified as
youth workers. The youth workers help the youth population to be in a better position and be responsible
for their actions. They provide a framework and philosophical guidelines regarding the shaping of future
policies through their interaction with the young population. The youth workers would try and empower
youth through the impact of their decisions on their day to day lives. The youth workers are the important
conduit that provide the feedback to the government and the legislative bodies the local council, the
state governments and the federal governments who formulate the youth policies. This input results in
a more robust and targeted policy creation that is able to deliver on the expectations of the young people.

There has been growing debate within Australia and particularly Victoria due to the rise in youth violence
in the state. There have been increasing number of reports of youth burglaries and other violent crimes.
There have been riots at youth detention centers and this has led to trauma for several of the youth
workers. The youth workers are caught in between the crossfire of the dissatisfied youth and the inequal
society. The modern society has always been based on inequality and this has led to the emergence of the
dissatisfied youth. These youths behave recklessly and put themselves and other youth workers in harms
way. There has been growing debate within the Australian legislation regarding potential solutions to
these problems which have included building new detention centers and juvenile correction centres. The
point missed by the government is that these policies lack the input of youth workers and thus are more
reactive. They are not proactive policies that would help avoid these issues and enable the empowerment
of the youth.