What's the Answer? - Create

PlanningISSUESAFTER CARE INDEPENDENCE PHASEYOUNG PEOPLE’S SOLUTIONS• Young people often leave care with no planfor their future and have limited supportsystems when things go wrong in theirlives.• Young people leave care in an ad hocmanner not in a planned way.• Provide “Leaving Care Kits” for all young people leaving care.Note. Before the kits are distributed a “checklist” could becompleted relating to the young person’s readiness totransition, ie. do they have a plan, do they have a place tolive, do they have the necessary life skills, do they have IDand so forth. Once the form is completed in consultationwith the young person it should be forwarded to a centralpoint so that a Leaving Care Kit can be dispatched. The kitsshould contain state-based information about services,entitlements, and link young people to additional resourcessuch as the CREATE Your Future website (already funded bythe Commonwealth).• Conduct an audit of this process annually.Best Practice Example: QLD “Go Your Own Way” Leaving CareKitHousing• Young people are often not equipped tolive independently.• High rates of homelessness.• Lack of suitable long-term accommodation.• Young people often leave care and moveinto temporary or crisis-typeaccommodation (refuges).• Develop life-skills courses.• Utilise the CREATE Your Future life-skills programs.• Develop policy to prevent young care leavers from exitinginto short-term emergency or refuge type accommodation.Accommodation should be long-term and stable.Education• Lack of practical information aboutalternative pathways to get into TAFE andUni.• Young people are too busy surviving tocontinue their education post 18 years.• Young people in care often don’t havepeople to support and encourage them tostudy.• Vocational education programs are difficultto get into, and young people arecompeting with mainstream students to getplaces.• Develop quotas for young people with a care experience inTAFE and universities. Young people should be given prioritystatus as in the model adopted by SA.• Waive HECS fees for young people with a care experience.• Provide automatic tutoring support for young people with acare experience who enter tertiary education.“I would like to do TAFE but I don’t havemoney or transport to get there”.Employment• High rates of unemployment amongstyoung people with a care experience.• Prioritise strategies (and set acceptable targets) to reducethe number of young people with a care experience who areunemployed.20