Parents’ Experiences of Monitoring Their Adolescents’ Compliance With Diversion Orders

The Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 makes provision for the diversion of child/adolescent offenders and expects parents to monitor their compliance with diversion orders. This paper examines how parents’ experience fulfilling this role, especially against the backdrop of their reduced influence during the adolescent development phase, following a qualitative study undertaken with 12 parents of diverted adolescents in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole. The findings revealed the particular difficulties that parents experienced in monitoring compliance and highlight the specific parental support needs that can be met by social workers and other child justice officials.