MUSCAT: The first forum on the provision of aftercare for juvenile delinquents, organized by the Ministry of Social Development concluded at the Grand Millennium hotel, on Wednesday.

The conclusion of the forum was held under the auspices of Shaikh Rashid bin Ahmed al Shamsi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Social Development.

The three-day forum, organized by the Department of Juvenile Affairs at the Ministry of Social Development, came up with several recommendations including forming a multi-specialization work team comprising social supervisor, psychiatrist, social specialist and progamme specialist in the field of the provision of aftercare programmes for juveniles.

The forum recommended subjecting workers involved in juvenile care to the a specialized programme concerned with the criminal evaluation of juvenile delinquents prior to their release with the aim of identifying their needs with regard to adaptation and social integration and activating the family foster care programme whereby the released juveniles are hosted by a family that provides them with care following their release from reformatory and prior to joining their biological families.

Also among the recommendations is intensifying purposeful programmes that target juvenile delinquents during their stay at the reformatory on a case-by-case basis prior to release from the reformatory and issuing a regulation for juvenile aftercare as part of the organizational regulations of the Department of Juvenile Affairs, among other recommendations.

Source: Oman Observer