As night falls on our cities each weekend, a group of children and teenagers get swept up in the crowd, largely out of sight and out of mind.
In just a few hours on one Friday night, the ABC saw dozens of juveniles flying under the radar in Perth’s entertainment district.
One is a 13-year-old girl, who the Youth Beat team find in a quieter part of the city.
Alannah Paylor offers support to a teenage girl on Perth’s streets. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Within a few minutes, they’ve worked out she is only going to year 8 one day a week because she has been getting into fights.
Later, they find a 14-year-old girl being cared for by an older sibling because her mother is in the regions and her father is in prison.
“There’s lots that we could do to support her, and hopefully, that family,” Youth Beat team leader Alannah Paylor said after the conversation.
The night provides a stark image of a type of disadvantage not easily seen in our bustling cities, and the efforts of those on the frontline to reduce it.
‘Falling through the cracks’
Ms Paylor and her colleague Summer Hansford can rack up tens of thousands of steps on Friday and Saturday nights, when the Youth Beat team walk the streets of Perth and Northbridge in pairs looking for anyone under 18 without an adult around.
The Youth Beat team look out for children and teenagers on the streets of Perth and Northbridge. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
To help break the ice, the team can offer snacks, water and even a charge for the children’s phones.
About four-fifths of the youths they find will identify as Aboriginal.
Seeing the same youths on the streets every day is a warning sign, the Youth Beat teams says. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
The team usually only sees most young people once. More frequent interactions are often a sign of deeper problems.
“That might be domestic violence at home, their home isn’t a safe place,” Ms Paylor said.
“It might be that they’re seeking connection and they don’t feel connected in their community.
“It might be that they’re having mental health struggles.”
She described them as the young people who have been falling through the cracks, undetected or unable to be supported by other services.
Safety first
Youth Beat has operated in various forms for about two decades and can tap into a network that can possibly get young people help, including child protection staff.
The Youth Beat team try to break the ice by offering snacks, water and phone charges (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
“It’s the only one [service] that we know of where the police, a not-for-profit organisation, [government] crisis care [staff] and an Aboriginal organisation work collectively together in working through the night on the streets,” Mission Australia regional leader Elise Jorgensen said.
Getting youths to safety is the team’s priority. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Getting children and teenagers home accounts for the bulk of their interactions.
The charity, which includes an outreach stall they run on some weekday evenings, has worked with about 2,850 young people last year, up 16 per cent on the year before, in part due to increased funding but also higher demand.
Many youths congregate in Perth’s entertainment district. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
In 2025, about 53 young people went on to receive longer-term case management.
The 13-year-old girl the team finds as it approaches midnight is a potential candidate. She has become disengaged with school and is open to receiving help.
“We would really explore what is going on with that education and how we can repair that,”
Ms Paylor said.
“Sometimes, mainstream education isn’t always the most appropriate, and we try to find them other means of education through alternative schools.”
Persistence pays off
Youth Beat had previously tried to get the 14-year-old girl whose older sister is looking after her into case management, but she was not ready at the time.
Tonight, she is talking about trying to go to school more and getting a job. She also said she was open to trying case management again.
Many children are reluctant to ask for help, but the Youth Beat team persist. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
“Those seeds have been planted months ago for a lot of these people,” Ms Hansford said.
“They’ve kind of learned to trust in the service and that we really do care and do what’s best for them and are trying to keep them safe.“
In some cases, when there is no safe place for a young person to go, they can be referred to crisis accommodation.
Youth Beat would like to run its services in other areas of Perth and is asking for more government funding. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
That was the case for only 30 young people last year, a figure Youth Beat put down to a lack of beds, rather than a lack of demand.
The organisation is seeking more state government funding to run the service in other areas of Perth as part of sector-wide calls for a greater focus on youth homelessness.
The government said last month’s state budget included an extra $20.3 million for at-risk youth services, including Youth Beat.
Alannah Paylor offers chips during a check-in with some youth. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Undetected, unsupported
The National Children’s Commissioner, Deb Tsorbaris, said there was “no doubt” childhood poverty and homelessness were rising.
Deb Tsorbaris says many families and youth are doing it tough. (ABC News: Armin Azad)
“When you’ve got families who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, they can’t get stable housing, they’ve got their own childhood trauma and they can’t get access to mental health services, it’s a really tough environment for them, for them as parents, and for their children,” she said.
With vulnerable families experiencing pressure, early intervention services help youth stay safe. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Ms Tsorbaris said vulnerable families were experiencing pressure “in a way that we’ve probably not seen”.
In many cases, Ms Tsorbaris said, the solution was early intervention to get the basics right.
“Really good family support with urgent mental health and drug and alcohol services when they’re needed, stable housing and employment … kids going to school,”
she said.
“All of these things create a better environment all around.”
