Twelve days of Christmas: Funds to help dig deeper into why kids go astray

The trust offers one-on-one mentoring with youth workers such as Erika Rodriguez Parker. Picture / Supplied

Auckland Airport is giving $120,000 to 12 charities as part of its annual 12 days of Christmas. The Herald is profiling each intiative.

Every day social workers and counsellors at Genesis Youth Trust in South Auckland are working with troubled youth to try to put them on the right path.

But often there is not enough time or resources available to really drill down to the root of the problem - something the trust's boss says is vital.

The troubled young people, aged between 8 to 16, have been picked up by police for offences such as robbing a shop, tagging or, in more serious cases, aggravated robbery or dangerous driving.

They are then referred to youth aid who draw up an alternative action plan or a youth justice plan depending on the seriousness of the offending. Then Genesis oversees that plan.

An alternative action plan is usually a three-month plan which starts with an apology to the victim, then community service or a special project where the young person gives back by helping out with a group such as the Salvation Army, and then restorative work.

For the more serious offences, a youth justice plan involves Child, Youth and Family, a family conference and then a six-month plan is drawn up.

But Genesis Youth Trust general manager Rob Woodley said often the restorative work where the root cause of the problem is identified and addressed is left off the plan even though he believes it is an important part of helping a young person get back on track.

The $10,000 grant from Auckland Airport will go directly towards what Woodley describes as that "over-and-above work".

He said this could involve additional counselling, prioviding extra schooling or working with the youth to find a sporting, cultural or youth group where they would be surrounded by positive influences.

"We really want to address the root causes of why these young people are getting into trouble."

The trust, which has been running for 16 years and has a team in Mangere, Papatoetoe and Otahuhu, another covering Papakura, and a third in Glen Innes, works with 200 children a year.

Woodley said there had been a large number of success stories, with police figures showing two out of three young people who have gone through the trust programme either stopping or reducing their offending.

Auckland Airport chose the trust because of the work it is doing educating young people in South Auckland and helping them find employment.

Auckland Airport general manager of health and safety Anna Cassels-Brown said the airport hoped to work with Genesis to eventually employ some of the young people they assist.

"We employ over 50 young people every summer to help customers through the travel peak and we'd love to see some of them join us through Genesis."