Tom de Castella spends an evening with a detached project in Camden to look at the role they can play.
It's a warm August night on the streets of Camden and many of the north London borough's young people are looking for something to do. The summer holidays are dragging on. "There's nothing going on," is a common refrain. I am out and about with the Camden Detached Project, one of the country's best supported detached youth service schemes.
The young people we meet are not the traditional recipients of youth work. Ask them about why they aren't down at the youth centre and you'll be met with a shrug or something more direct: "Hardly any of us have been to youth clubs. Why would we bother?" says Abdul, 19. As for the local advisory service Connexions, the view is even more critical: "They are the biggest waste of time. You go in there with an idea for a job and they listen and then tell you to do something totally different."
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