This article examines the content of supervision sessions between probation officers and their clients and the extent to which supervisors make use of effective practice skills. It summarises the literature which suggests that when probation officers use particular skills, those under their supervision are likely to have lower recidivism rates than the clients of probation officers who do not use these skills. It discusses the few studies which have directly considered the extent to which probation officers make use of effective practice skills. It then outlines a research project which involved personal observation of 119 interviews between youth probation officers and their clients in Juvenile Justice in NSW with a view to identifying the content of interviews and the extent to which probation officers used effective practice skills. The findings suggest that probation officers are strong on relationship and pro-social modelling skills but make less use of role clarification, problem solving and cognitive behavioural skills. The implications of this are discussed.

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There is considerable research conducted over the past 50 years which describes the impact on children of parental incarceration. Research has also focused on describing the care arrangements of such children. Yet there has been no specific examination of the trajectory of care for these children, the processes surrounding this care, or its resultant quality. This article reports the findings of an ARC funded study examining care planning processes in Victoria and New South Wales for these children. We concentrate in this paper on a subset of data from 124 professional stakeholders, who commented on their experiences of responding to children, in the context of their organisational remit, processes and expectations. Findings indicate that children of prisoners are largely invisible in adult organisations and that there are typically poor or poorly understood interagency protocols to respond to these children. Respondents report relying on informal information, networks and resources and working outside of their role to meet the needs of children. Clear suggestions are made for improvements, including developing child-sensitive services; a child-focused approach and clearer protocols and guidelines for working with others.

Probation officers and others who work with young offenders often challenge or confront their clients in relation to pro-criminal comments and criminal behaviour. There is, however, very little research that can inform practitioners about which forms of challenging most effectively engage young people. This study examines the use of challenging by youth justice workers in New South Wales, Australia. Researchers observed and audiotaped 116 interviews between youth justice workers and their clients with a view to examining the nature of challenging used by workers and the response of young people to different forms of challenging. Qualitative and quantitative findings indicate that the clients were more positively engaged by, and responsive to, challenging that was exploratory, non-blaming, and accompanied by positive reinforcement of their strengths. Excerpts taken from the interviews provide examples of high- and low-level use of the skill of challenging.

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