RESOURCES: Classic text revisited... Working with Unattached YouthGoetschius and Tash, 1967

Working with Unattached Youth is an evaluative study of a then innovative five-year YMCA-led project that successfully met its aim of engaging marginalised young people within a socially deprived neighbourhood of an inner London borough. The study analyses how the project was required to develop a range of informal approaches and methods to engage, on their terms, young people who would ordinarily have no contact with voluntary and statutory youth organisations. It emphasises the importance of thorough reconnaissance, planning, review, evaluation and staff support and training to the effectiveness of targeted work with such groups.

After returning to this pioneering text after a 20-year gap, I believe it is as relevant as ever. The methods and approaches described in the study have not dated and provide a sound practice framework for establishing detached youth work. As the youth service is being transformed into a more focused service with targets and objectives, the need for careful data collection and evaluation has never been more important.