What's the Answer? - Create

Planning needs to ensure that young people recognise the importance of contact with theircommunity and chosen family, and whatever connections they wish to establish are facilitated.Assessment of their level of Life Skills acquisition when approaching transition (and implementingremedial action if necessary through appropriate programs) would ensure that, in future, 12.6% ofcare leavers do not report finding the preparation of meals and looking after themselves challenging.Transition PhaseIn the period of Transition, the time for actually leaving care, can be characterized as a “gettingestablished” phase when emphasis is placed on finding a new home base for the young person andaddressing immediate financial assistance issues. Data from the CREATE Report Card indicated thatsupport in this period also was lacking. Of the group that had left care, 50% had to leave theirplacement on turning 18 years; 40% of those didn’t know where they were going to live on leaving.Overall, 34.7% had experienced periods of homelessness in their first year of independence for anaverage of 31 days. Almost 70% received some form of Centrelink payment (53.7% wholly dependenton this support); 21.3% found the management of finances quite or very hard. Positively, 25.5% werefinancially self-sufficient; however, 28.5% were unemployed. A further 13.8% were continuing theirstudies at tertiary institutions.These observations highlight areas where more support is needed when establishing a new life for ayoung care leaver. Achieving the aspiration that “no young person should exit care intohomelessness“ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009a) still remains elusive. Special attention needs tobe given to achieving familiarity with the Centrelink procedures, given that so many of the youngcare leavers initially depend on that support. In addition, extra effort should be directed at reducingunemployment in this cohort by helping them find suitable employment or making it easier for themto enroll in suitable education or training programs. Accessibility of transport becomes vital duringthis period.After Care Independence PhaseThe critical facets of this Phase of transitioning could be classified as Monitoring and Review. A majorproblem here is that, because of the relatively low priority given to supporting those who alreadyhave left care, often it is not clear who should assume responsibility for tracking the progress ofthese young people. The CREATE Report Card strongly advocated the establishment of dedicatedTransition from Care (TFC) workers in major child protection centres within each state / territory.Using the figure of 13000 young people in the community, eligible for receiving support after leavingcare, then the number of specialist workers required across Australia (assuming a notional caseloadof 30) is 433. Table 1 shows the estimated distribution of workers required over jurisdictions basedon the CPA statistics (AIHW, 2009) and the respective costs if the Commonwealth provided 50%subsidy to the states and territories to encourage the establishment of these specialist positions (theoverall allocation required for this support would be approximately $14.56 million).8