What's the Answer? - Create

“Young people are more confident and willingto access a service if a trustedcaseworker/carer/mentor attends the servicevisit with them”.Life Skills• There are limited programs that help youngpeople to develop life skills, and they aredifficult for young people to access (asmany run in school/work hours).• Life skill training and developmentprograms are delivered in a fragmentedmanner and are often metropolitan based.• Established mentoring programs are oftennot specifically developed for young peoplein care or transitioning from care. Thosethat are, are rare and offer few places.“The basics need to start with foster carers,just like other young people learning skills athome. This would include opening a bankaccount, cooking, cleaning.”• Offer life-skills programs in flexible delivery modes (i.e.week-ends and after hours) so that programs are responsiveto young peoples’ needs.• Map existing life-skills training and development programsthat offer specialist training for young people with a careexperience and ensure that strategies are in place todistribute the information to NGO’s, Centrelink and youngpeople with a care experience.• Continue to support the national CREATE Your Futuretraining package, website, grant-scheme and carer trainingpackage. It is important not to duplicate programs andservices, and to work toward an integrated system offeringeconomies of scale.• Implement mentoring programs that are specificallydeveloped to support young people with a care experience.• Provide high levels of training and support to communitymentors.Best Practice Example: Create Your Future Program19