art alerts

about alerts in art

To manage these situations, alerts in ART help capture and record information that appears on a young person's ART record whenever an alert has been added. They keep you informed and provide you with important details about a young person before making contact with them.

Impact on engagement

Adding an alert may impact the way in which you will engage with a young person, so it's important that:

alerts are only put in place for appropriate and justifiable reasons
where safety is a concern, adding an alert must be based on an assessment of the risk to safety
you regularly review alerts to ensure they are still necessary and remove them if they are no longer required.

You must let the young person know that an alert has been added to their ART profile and explain what that means for your engagement with them.

art alert categories

There are four categories for adding an alert in ART. Click on each category for more information about the topic.

Safety
Engagement
Trespass
Warrant to Arrest - Public Risk

safety alerts

Before adding a safety alert

You will need to:

determine if the incident meets Safety alert criteria, and
assess the risk by completing a Safety Assessment Form.

What are the criteria for a safety alert?

The Safety alert criteria have four Safety Alert Types in ART.

Direct threat

A direct threat is when someone has threatened to physically harm a person.

Intimidating behaviour

Intimidating behaviour is intentional aggressive behaviour that would cause you to feel unsafe. This includes situations when comments are offensive but do not pose a direct threat to staff. For example, 'I know where you live', offensive gestures or aggressive body language.

Wilful damage

Wilful damage may include vandalism, such as graffiti, and/or violent wilful damage. It could also include acts of property damage, such as breaking a window or computer.

Assault

Assault is intentionally harming or attempting to harm a person.

safety assessment form

The Safety Assessment Form assess the incident and the risk it poses to safety and determines whether a Safety alert is needed.

You can download a copy here, or access these in ART documents or in the online learning module.

The staff member involved in the incident should work with their direct manager or team leader to complete the Safety Assessment Form. Once complete, the form will then need to be approved by a senior or site manager.

Completing the assessment

Completing the assessment requires identifying the following features:

The circumstances of the incident (criteria)
The seriousness of the risk
The likelihood of the risk occurring
How the risk will be managed
Whether there is a valid reason for not sending the young person an Alert Information Letter about the Safety alert.

When recording information in the Safety Assessment Form, you must ensure the information is accurate, up to date, complete, and relevant.

Once complete, you will need to upload the Safety Assessment Form into the young person's ART record and inform the young person about the alert.

informing the young person about the safety alert

When a Safety alert is added to a young person's ART record, you must inform them about the alert by providing them with an Alert Information Letter.

You can download a copy below, or access these in ART documents or in the online learning module.

The Alert Information Letter explains why a Safety Alert has been added and describes how they will engage with you. It also explains how the young person can ask to have the information recorded in the alert corrected under the Privacy Act.

In some cases, it might not be appropriate to provide an Alert Information Letter as it may increase the risk of harm and jeopardise the relationship between you and the young person. The reason and decision not to provide the Alert Information Letter should be recorded in your assessment.

If the Alert Information Letter has been provided to the young person, a copy must be scanned and saved onto their ART record.

engagement alerts

For most Engagement alerts, you will need to complete the Engagement Alert Form to obtain consent from the young person to add an alert to their ART record.

What are the engagement alert types in art?

There are six Engagement Alert Types in ART.

Disability

A young person may request to be contacted in a specific way if they have a physical disability, for example if they are hearing impaired and prefer being contacted via email.

If a young person approaches you regarding their disability/impairment, you can consider an Engagement alert and request the young person complete the Engagement Alert Form.

If a young person advises you of their disability/impairment, an Engagement alert is required, and you will need to request the young person to complete the Engagement Alert Form.

Note: If a young person approaches MSD regarding their disability/impairment, YSSU will consider adding an Engagement alert in ART.

Agent

A young person can nominate an Agent to act on their behalf to engage with you.

An Engagement alert is needed to inform staff of the arrangements.

An Engagement Alert Form is not required as the duties of an agent will determine how you will engage with them.

Note: If a young person appoints an agent through MSD, YSSU will add an Engagement alert in ART.

Family violence

If a young person is experiencing family violence, you may add an alert in ART when:

They are currently receiving support from a Family Violence Response Coordinator (FVRC) or participating in an intervention programme.
They are actively seeking support but wish to engage with you exclusively at this time.

The Engagement Alert Form will need to be completed by the young person.

Note: If YSSU are notified by MSD about a young person experiencing family violence and they are being supported by either programme above, YSSU will add an Engagement alert in ART and advise you to follow up with the young person in completing an Engagement Alert Form.

If you need to update the alert after YSSU have added it, you can do so without Admin access.

Home detention

If you become aware of a young person on home detention, bail, or post-release conditions, it may be appropriate to add an Engagement alert and have them complete an Engagement Alert Form to avoid referring them to training, or employment opportunities that conflict with a court order.

Note: If YSSU are notified by MSD about a young person on home detention, etc. YSSU will add an Engagement alert in ART and advise you to follow up with the young person in completing an Engagement Alert Form.

If you need to update the alert after YSSU have added it, you can do so without Admin access.

Oranga tamariki

An Oranga Tamariki alert is automatically added for young people applying for a benefit.

For NEET, Oranga Tamariki information will not transfer automatically into ART. This information needs to be entered in manually.

An Engagement Alert Form and an Engagement alert is needed if the young person:

is currently in the care of Oranga Tamariki or
has been in the care of Oranga Tamariki within the last two years or
is on a 'Supervision with Residence' order or
is transitioning to a 'Supervision following Residence' order.

Names, pronouns, gender

We want young people to feel comfortable using our service. You may want to add an alert with the young person's preferred name, pronoun, and gender. You also might want to add additional notes, like 'Parents don't know gender status. Use death name when talking to parents'.

An Engagement Alert Form is not required.

engagement alert form

The Engagement Alert Form records how you will engage with the young person and will determine what information you will record in an Engagement alert.

The form is completed and signed by the young person giving you consent to add an Engagement alert on their ART record.

The Engagement Alert Form will capture information such as:

their circumstances, e.g. difficulty with hearing
how they would like for you to engage with them, e.g. young person would prefer phone calls rather than emails
additional information, e.g. I prefer to work with an agent.

When recording information in the Engagement alert, you must ensure the information is accurate, up to date, complete, and relevant.

If it is determined that an Engagement alert is needed, you will need to upload the Engagement Alert Form into the young person's ART record.

You can download a copy of the Engagement Alert Form here, or access these in ART documents or in the online learning module.

reviewing an engagement alert

You may need to set a review date in the Engagement alert if the young person's circumstances are expected to change. However, this will not always be appropriate, e.g. a young person with a permanent disability.

If reviewing the alert is appropriate, you can discuss this with the young person and agree to add a review date in the Engagement alert. You will be notified 10 days before the review date to follow up on any changes.

trespass alerts

There are two Trespass Alert Types in ART.

Youth Service provider issues a trespass order
MSD issues a trespass order

Youth Service provider issues a trespass order

If a young person is trespassed from your premises, a Trespass alert is needed.

Important: You can make alternative arrangements to continue services with the young person, for example, you can arrange offsite appointments, have the young person appoint an agent to act on their behalf, or converse over video call. You will need to ensure the young person is fully aware of the alternative arrangements so that services (and the young person's payments) continue without disruption due to the trespass order.

When you add a Trespass alert to the young person's ART record, a notification will be sent to YSSU to notify MSD, including alternative arrangements. MSD staff need to be aware of the trespass order and any alternative arrangements in place so as to not refer the young person back to your premises when they make contact with MSD.

Subsequently, when you remove the Trespass alert from ART, another notification will be sent to YSSU to remove any notifications with MSD.

MSD issues a trespass order

If a young person is trespassed from an MSD premises, YSSU will add a Trespass alert on the young person's ART record so that you do not refer them into the MSD premises, particularly when your provider services are unavailable.

Continued delivery of services

You can deliver services in a way that avoids breaching the trespass order. This can be offsite appointments, an agent or via video call. It's important all avenues are explored, and that the young person is fully aware of the arrangements so that services continue without disruption.

Informing the young person

In cases where a young person has been trespassed from your premises, you should use existing policies and practices when informing a young person of a trespass. Generally, the NZ Police will be responsible for serving a trespass notice.

Revoked trespass order

A trespass notice may be revoked because of:

a trespassed person requesting a review of the decision about the Trespass notice they were served
a trespassed person being invited into a site they have been trespassed from, and has entered the premises
MSD choosing to review a Trespass notice.

Young person moves to a different area

If a young person moves to a different area and their ART record is transferred to a new provider, you will need to notify the new provider of the Trespass alert. The trespass will remain on the young person's ART record and will still be valid (for the premises they are trespassed from) for the given time period.

Care and consideration

Care must be taken when considering referring a young person to a site they have been issued a trespass notice for. If you invite the young person onto a trespassed site and they enter the premises, the trespass notice is voided. This includes being invited onto the premises in error by MSD staff.

Reviewing a trespass alert

Trespass notices are issued for a two-year period.

When adding a Trespass alert on the young person's ART record, you must add the effective date of the trespass notice in the Review date field. A notification will be sent to you 10 days before the review date reminding you to review the alert.

warrant to arrest

YSSU action

If YSSU is notified about an arrest warrant on a young person, they will add the Warrant to Arrest - Public Risk alert on their ART record and contact you to inform you about the alert.

Provider action

When you are notified about the alert, you will need to contact the young person and advise them on how to clear the warrant. Instructions on how to clear the warrant will be noted in the alert by YSSU.

Once the warrant is cleared, notify YSSU using the existing process via Reviews, Warrant to Arrest task in ART.

YSSU will remove the alert once they are satisfied that the warrant has been cleared.