Youth Offending Prevention Team

This page contains everything you need to know about the Merthyr Tydfil Youth Offending Prevention Team.

What is Prevention?

The main focus of the team is to prevent offending and / or Anti Social Behaviour.  Also to develop effective early interventions for young people and their families who are experiencing difficulties within the home, school or community environment.

We aim to prevent isolation and promote social inclusion in the hardest to reach young people.  A priority for the Merthyr Tydfil  YOT prevention scheme is to ensure that all children and young people have a safe home and community which supports physical and emotional well-being.

Who are we?

We work within the Youth Offending Team in Merthyr Tydfil, but our team work with young people on a voluntary basis.  We were first established in 2006 after recognising the gap and the need for a prevention service to engage with identified young people before they come into the youth justice system.

What do we do?

We work with young people and their families to try to get their lives back on track.  We work closely with a range of services including our partner agencies within the children’s services in order to provide our young people with support and advise they need to address any identified issues.

Referral Process

There are two main referral routes into our project:-

Anti-Social Behaviour – When a young person receives a second warning for anti-social behaviour the community safety partnership will refer them to our project.

Multi Agency Referral Group – Each week a host of agencies from Merthyr Tydfil  including the Youth Offending Team, Socail Services, Education, Domestic Abuse Resource Team, Drugaid, Youth Inclusion Programme and CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service) get together to dicuss identified young people and vulnerable families.  The group discusses what project best fits the young persons needs and a referral is then submitted.