WHITELION IMPACT BROCHURE

Hot off the press, Whitelion’s latest publication is a great resource to help you understand our young people, our work and our impact. 

Most Australian young people inherit circumstances that breed social inclusion, facilitated by their part in the social fabric of their parents’ communities. In contrast, most exclusively, Whitelion’s clients have experienced state institutions such as out-of-home care and/or the youth justice system. Unfortunately, experience of one increases a young person’s likelihood of experiencing the other. Up to three quarters of Whitelion’s young people have a child protection history, and further factors of intergenerational disadvantage such as familial incarceration, criminality or substance abuse. Compared to the general population, they present with multiple barriers to social inclusion; most have substance use issues, experience of familial violence, abuse and/or neglect, mental health issues, under-education and unemployment. Alarmingly, young parenthood is also over-represented, with up to one in seven of our young people being parents. Whitelion provides young people with opportunities to build resilience to prevent and redress the impact of these experiences.

“Factors associated with social exclusion are prominent in creating and maintaining adverse life paths.”  (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2008:24)

Key outcomes and impact for Whitelion young people?

The most common changes reported by the young people surveyed as part of Whitelion’s evaluation processes, were improvements in their personal development, aspiration, self-esteem, independence and vocational or educational development.

Young people reported that they have:

‘(I) am working – something I never imagined. I can be more confident. I can get up and actually have something to do. I feel better after I’ve been at work for the day. I feel like I’ve accomplished something.’   (Female, 18 years)

Since commencing with our programs ,

‘I’m back at school after two years (away).’   (Male, 19 years)

Through young people’s engagement with Whitelion we observe a decrease in their antisocial and criminal behaviour as they reconnect with society. As shown through our evaluations young people report an improved ability to manage their offending behaviour, and their substance use, facilitating their ability to re-engage with education and employment opportunities.

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1. Who maintained engagement with our programs.
2. Scale of 1 to 5, 5 being most positive.

The employment programs cited in the Australian Institute of Criminology What Works (2003) report found that more intensive, supportive programs with longer durations held a more positive impact on re-offending, including increased employment rates, wages and subsequent enrolment in educational and training programs. Whitelion’s services are consistent with key factors of the best practice ‘what works’ as supported by Monash University’s Evaluation of Post-Release Transition Programs (2009).

Broader social value of Whitelion programs

In addition to the direct participant outcomes from involvement in Whitelion, a broader community impact can be quantified. Reduced offending/re-offending, reduced substance abuse, and enhanced social inclusion represent considerable cost-savings and social value to the community. The average annual cost for each bed across the Victorian custodial justice systems is $164,000; the social cost-benefit of diverting them from these centres is exponentially higher. A conservative estimate of the potential for society’s lifetime cost savings for a young person who has left care can be improved to equal those of the general population, is $738,741 (Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, 2005). Although an improvement to the full extent of the gap is unlikely, a support program that produces a ten per cent improvement in life outcomes for just one person would save the State around $74,000 over the course of that person’s life. Whitelion’s leaving care mentoring program costs $4,347 per young person per year (Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, 2005). Further, through utilising existing community resources such as volunteer mentors and workplace support structures, Whitelion’s program pathways provide significant value-adding.

Further, as part of achieving sustainable outcomes for both employers and clients, Whitelion targets employment partners belonging to industries of current and forecast growth. Providing training in these areas not only maximises young people’s capacity to find vacancies for employment and attracts ongoing investment from our employment partners, it also contributes to addressing inherent labour shortage areas.