Overview

Introduction

This section contains information and procedures for planning and running Support Planning Meetings (SPMs) for child sex offenders.

SPMs acknowledge the need to manage the risk of re-offending and reintegration to help the offender lead an offence free lifestyle.

They allow support people to share information and advice so that risk factors and individual needs can be managed appropriately.

Background

Research and overseas experience indicate that management of child- sex offenders (CSOs) in the community should focus on factors that increase the risk of re-offending.

Risk factors must be monitored for changes indicating increasing risk. Effective risk management requires a joint effort from relevant agencies, stakeholders and individuals.

SPMs: Who?

Support Planning Meetings bring offenders together with people committed to supporting them to remain offence free. This support group may include partners, family/whanau, friends, employers, professionals, treatment providers and government / social support agencies (e.g. Child, Youth & Family, and Police).

The meetings are organised and recorded by the supervising Probation Officer and facilitated by a Probation Officer trained and skilled in SPM facilitation.

SPMs may occur only with the offender's consent.

SPMs: What?

The purposes of an SPM are to develop and confirm a support network with those who have committed to supporting the offender, and to agree upon a safety plan. The Support Planning Meeting aims to:

• define the role of support people and agency representatives in supporting the offender and helping to manage risk.
• provide information and guidelines for non-professional support people on how to identify risk factors and respond appropriately to any perceived increase in the offender's risk.
• clarify and confirm communication channels between support people and agency representatives when support issues and concerns or risks are identified.
• develop a safety plan that identifies relevant supports as well as risks relating to re-offending and strategies to manage the risk. The safety plan covers all aspects of the offender's life. This includes any Court or Parole Board imposed conditions, and other measures that the support network thinks will assist the offender to lead an offence-free lifestyle.

SPMs: When?

SPMs should be held, if possible, within the first 4 weeks following either

• release from prison, or
• the start of home detention
• the start of a supervision or extended supervision order.

The support group may agree to hold further SPMs at regular intervals (eg. monthly or quarterly), and/or just before the end of the sentence/order.

In this section

In this section you will find: