Doin' It For the Kids - Nunga Style!

So, last night was my first ever shift of street work. It is an option I can take with my mentoring job - if I am interested.... which of course I AM!!!!

So I arrived at MAYFS (my workplace) last night at 9.50pm and met up with my partner for the night, "D". Even though I had read the processes and policies for what happens on streetwork, nothing really prepares you for it. The best way to learn is to jump right in!

So what is the main point of streetwork? The concept is to pick up aboriginal (aka Nunga, pronounced Nung-ga) kids who are in the city after dark on Friday and Saturday nights. They are 18 years old and under and we take them home in our van. Making sure they get home and inside safely is obviously a priority. 

The first thing we did was a car patrol of Hindley Street. Driving slowly up the street looking for kids who might need a ride. As we got into the city around 10.30pm kids were sooo not ready to go home - and we really found none anywhere, so then we parked outside Parliament House. We have a pass that allows us to park literally anywhere (almost) and the kids know that the car is often parked in this spot - so it's good for them to congregate there when they need a ride. They also know a few other places they can go when needing a ride - like the cop shop on Hindley for example.

After parking, we did a foot patrol through the railway station on North Terrace (for u NON-Adelaidians, this is the main train station in RAdelaide) and waited for the last train to come in then headed down to the skate park and back up to the car. All the time casually looking for kids..... and to keep warm and pass the time, lol.

It was still early at 11pm so we did a car patrol of the river - taking in Elder and Bonython Parks. Did u know there is this way cool pathway that u can drive on that goes right alongside the river, down under the Morphett St bridge and out into Bonython Park, behind the Police Barracks? I had no idea it was there OR how long it was. I think u can only do it if you have the 'free pass/access all areas pass'. Definitely made for an interesting drive..... but still no kids at this stage.

After that we had to go check in at "The Hub". I'm still a little unsure of who The Hub is actually run by - whether it's the Hindley St Police Station, or if it's a collective of the different services that do street work on weekends. The point of the Hub is that it is a place where we - the workers, can go for coffee, munchies, to sit and wait for phone calls, do paperwork, etc. There is a worker on (but not sure who they are with) who takes phone calls from the cop shop and other workers of kids needing to be picked up and she then passes on to the appropriate service and we go pick them up. The Hub is also a place where we sign in pretty early on in the shift - that way they know who (from Panyappi - my programme) is on and our contact numbers. Important so we can be contacted for pick ups.

We were only at the Hub for about 10min - enough for me to make my first coffee when we got a call out (spills coffee in car, lol). Two young people at the train station. We picked them up and took them home. However bc these kids were only 13years old, there is a whole extra set of policies we have to follow - basically for anyone 14 years and under.

We just got back to the Hub and got another call out - to the cop shop. However the young person had disappeared by the time we got there which is apparently quite normal. So we spent half an hour on the street talking with some workers from other agencies. We found the young person who wanted the ride, took them home and went back to the Hub for another pick up.

Only thing is, that third pick up was actually the same kids from the first pick up. Somehow, they had walked back into the city and were now genuinely ready to go home. The night ended after taking these ones home. 

So I wanna just talk about a couple things after my exciting, very different... and relatively cold night...

The coolest thing that I never knew was that there is a pretty big team of different agencies including government who are out patrolling our city streets on weekend nights - Fridays and Saturdays. Who knew????

I was really impressed as I had no idea people who went partying were so well looked after. Who is out there fighting the good fight against alcohol, drugs, etc???????

Firstly, there is us of course - Panyappi which is part of MAYFS (Metropolitan Aboriginal Youth and Family Service, http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/programs-projects?pid=164). We look after the Nunga kids. All young people under the age of 18 know that we are there to take them home when they are ready - whether drunk, broke or whatever else. It's definitely a safe option. We work from 10pm to 4am.

Then there is Kumangka. They deal with aboriginal young people who are over the age of 18.

There is Youthbeat, Youth Encounter (green team, red team), Mission Australia (who go home at 1am) and Maps. Im not entirely sure yet what group of people all of these service - but I do know Maps are for non-indigenous people over 18y/o - and pretty sure Youthbeat and Youth Encounter do the under 'white' 18's. You can see that all ages are definitely covered. 

I was staggered at the people involved in keeping our city streets safe - and really impressed. There seems to be a real camaraderie between workers - but as they are often working together, passing on information etc it's no surprise - we are all out there for the same purpose. To keep people safe and get them home in one piece.

At one point when we were in the Hub, we also had a visit from Edge Church - who were so lovely and brought us not only hot 'real' cappuccinos, but hot toasted cheese and tomato sangers. Was so nice to have something to eat at 1.30 in the morning - and they were so lovely. 

The one thing about my shift that really touched me was the ages of some of the young people out on the streets. As young as 8 or 9. If we pick up young kids (under 14) there are definitely policies that we have to follow to make sure they are safe if we take them home. There is also a lot of follow up on Mondays - for all the kids we take home.  

I said to D that I couldn't understand why kids would wanna go into town when they are clearly well underage and there is nothing for them to do. One reply that came back to me was "it's part of the culture - aboriginal kids just walk, walk everywhere". My brother is a testament to that one, lol. 

But I also answered my own question later in the night when I was reflecting on myself as a young person - and how when I finally got my P's and a lot of courage, we thought it was the most dangerous and exciting thing to drive down Hindley Street at 10pm at night. (Oh dear, shakes head!). Hindley Street is Adelaide's version of Kings Cross.... but on a much smaller scale.  

But other reasons why kids go out is that they don't want to be home - a lot of the kids we find, are out there bc their home life is not so great and you will do anything to get outa there. Others sneak out of the house and then it becomes a tussle between a relationship of trust with the young person - or following procedures. One drop off last night was to a relative's home. And bc the person has snuck out, they didn't want us to drop them off at home but down the street. The problem with that is that they were under 14 y/o - so we were obligated to knock on the door to let the parents know. The problem here is - those kids had never used our service before even though they were known to workers. It's was the first time they had used the service - which shows some trust in US, but then they ask you to let them sneak inside. Do you follow procedure or do you keep that trust with the kids. It's a tricky minefield to walk. Those two kids were our third drop off as well as our first.

D told me that there was one time where he had to take the same car load of kids home THREE times in a shift - bc they just kept coming back out. In fact, they would often beat him back to the city. The question that arises is why bother taking them home?????

One thing that D told me last night was that every weekend there is always a slow night and a busy night - apparently last night was slow - looked pretty busy to me tho, lol. SO I guess tonight will really be my baptism of fire, lol.