KEY POINTS:
An experimental home for youth offenders which cost $1.4 million and has 12 staff, has only one occupant after the other youth ran away.
The neighbours of a million dollar youth residential home near Hamilton are now calling for it to be closed down.
Te Hurihanga, which translates as 'the turning point', opened in April despite strong opposition from locals, who feared young offenders would take advantage of its open door policy and simply walk away.
The unit is meant to create a homelike environment with house parents'; for eight offenders.
Local resident Craig Appleton believes one youth and 12 staff are there at the moment . He says two offenders have already absconded.
"It's a case of 'I told you so'," he said.
"Why would they stay there if they could just wander away when they felt like it? It's ridiculous."
Mr Appleton says the youths sent to the centre have a string of convictions and should not be given such a soft punishment.
Te Hurihanga, which opened in Hamilton on April 27 as a national pilot project to pioneer a new way of reforming young offenders, has a three-year budget $5.17m.
However, only two youths had been referred there by Child, Youth and Family Services, The New Zealand Herald reported. Both had run away twice in the last few weeks one ran away again a week ago.
They had been warned by a Youth Court judge they would not get a third chance and the missing youth was not expected to return.
The paper said the one youth offender left was being looked after by 12 staff, including a manager, a residential manager, three night staff, three psychologists, a therapist, a skills trainer who was also a teacher, a fulltime kaumatua and at least one other staff member.
The facility had eight bedrooms and the centre offered intensive treatment, transition to home and family therapy.
- NZPA / NEWSTALK ZB
