Having a dedicated cultural mentor to support and guide Kai has helped him see a different pathway forward.
Seventeen-year-old Kai is of Samoan descent. So when he was referred to our Youth Justice Community Support Service, one of our Intensive Cultural Support Workers, Afua, who shares his background went to see him.
“I’ve never seen someone show up so many times to see Kai, message me regularly to see if I’m OK, and consistently do everything he says he will,” says Kai’s Mum.
Afua is passionate about helping kids in his community, and says that shared language and cultural practices help build rapport with both the young people and their families.
“I’m Samoan and I’ll always be Samoan. There’s an instant connection when you are working with our Pasefika young people. You know, when you see them in person and they see, oh, you’re just like me. You are brown. We share the same language.”
Intensive Cultural Support Worker
As well as working with Afua, Kai was also given the opportunity to take part in a group conference, as the magistrate felt he would benefit from seeing how his actions affected others.
Group conferencing is one of the restorative justice programs we provide to help young people to understand the impact of their offending. This, in turn, can reduce the likelihood that they will offend again.
The group conference saw Kai come face-to-face with the police, the victim, and their family, so they could all talk about their experiences of the incident.
As well as hearing about the impact of his actions on others, Kai shared what happened from his perspective and his thoughts and feelings along the way. He reflected on the past and how he had grown, with Afua’s support, in the year since he committed the crime.
It was an emotional experience for Kai’s mum, who also attended. “It’s a good experience to hear the other side of the story, how it had affected that family, as well as what Kai was thinking, and how the police saw it.”
At the end of the group conference, Kai agreed to take a number of actions to repair some of the harm he caused and move forward in a different way.
This included keeping in better contact with his support workers, reconnecting with his church, finding employment, and writing an apology letter to the victim.
Afua suggested that Kai send a printed fabric gift called Elei along with his letter — something traditional in Samoan culture as a way of making amends.
“In our culture, we use our hands a lot to, you know, to offer love. To offer apology.”
Afua guided Kai through the process and his Mum joined them. She felt really proud, saying she hadn’t known that her son was open to this sort of cultural practice, which is so important to the family.
Afua continues to touch base with Kai regularly since the conference, and will for as long as he needs him.
Together they have set goals for Kai that they are working together to achieve.
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As Afua’s mum shares, “I always get excited when he’s with Afua, because he comes back with that smile. He’s a different kid. I feel like Afua is an angel – the kind of person we need around our young people, to influence them in a positive way.”
* Kai’s name has been changed and a representative image used to protect his privacy.