In this new Yuwaya Ngarra-li Briefing Paper by Peta MacGillivray, Zoe Sands, Ruth McCausland, Wendy Spencer and May Miller-Dawkins, Lessons from the Two River Pathway to Change Diversion Model 2018–2023, reflections and outcomes from over five years of work and community collaboration are shared.
In March 2018, Yuwaya Ngarra-li organised a Youth Justice Forum in Walgett to address problems faced by Aboriginal children and young people in contact with the criminal justice system. This led to the development of an Action Plan for Children and Young People through collaboration with stakeholders and agency representatives, with the goal of reducing the appearance of Aboriginal children and young people from Walgett in the Children's Court to less than 10%.
The Two River Pathway to Change model effectively responds to the specific challenges around youth justice and wellbeing in the Walgett context, centring community-led priorities, recognising the inherent protective factors of family, Community, ACCOs and Culture, and working to coordinate holistic, flexible, trauma-informed support for Aboriginal children and young people. The model aims to avoid further criminalisation and marginalisation, emphasising both systemic and individual actions for positive change.