What's the Answer? - Create
What's the Answer? - Create
What's the Answer? - Create
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Including <strong>the</strong> “voice” of young people with a care experienceCREATE Foundation has established a reputation for empowering young people through its variousprograms (eg. <strong>Create</strong> Your Future) but, especially, through our National Youth Advisory Council(NYAC) and Youth Advisory Group (YAG) in each state and territory, to advocate effectively toenhance <strong>the</strong> care experience for children and young people.NYAC and YAG’s advocacy has been very strong in <strong>the</strong> area of transitioning from out-of-home care toindependence, given CREATE’s recent research work in transitioning from care which found thatapproximately 65% of young people transition form care without a plan (McDowall, 2009:63) andresulted in <strong>the</strong> What’s <strong>the</strong> Plan? Campaign targeting young people aged 15-18 years with <strong>the</strong> specificobjective of increasing <strong>the</strong> number who participate in <strong>the</strong> development of <strong>the</strong>ir Leaving Care Plan.To ensure that young people with a care experience were given <strong>the</strong> opportunity to have <strong>the</strong>ir voicesheard and <strong>the</strong>ir opinions included in <strong>the</strong> draft Work Plan for <strong>the</strong> national priority Transitioning toindependence, CREATE Foundation was funded by FaHCSIA to undertake <strong>the</strong> activity National YouthAdvisory Council input into a national strategy to improve Transitioning to Independence from Out ofHome Care.The activity required that CREATE facilitate contributions from members of <strong>the</strong> National YouthAdvisory Council (NYAC) and o<strong>the</strong>r young people, representative of <strong>the</strong> diverse range of needs of thisgroup, in:• <strong>the</strong> development of a strategy to identify key priorities and practical solutions in assisting youngpeople transitioning out of care to gain full independence; and• support <strong>the</strong> NFIWG Transitioning to Independence Sub-Working Group to provide advice anddirection on initiatives that will lead to better social and economic outcomes for young people.The CREATE ActivityTo provide young people’s input into <strong>the</strong> draft Work Plan for transitioning to independence in orderto support <strong>the</strong> work of <strong>the</strong> NFIWG Transitioning to Independence Sub-Working Group, CREATEdetermined that <strong>the</strong> activity would involve <strong>the</strong> capture of <strong>the</strong> views of young people with a careexperience about <strong>the</strong> process of transitioning from out-of-home care to independence by conductinga series of consultations.As CREATE has captured already <strong>the</strong> “voices” of 678 young people relating to issues associated withtransitioning from out-of-home care to independence using three (3) surveys in two (2) recent andcurrent research projects 3 , this activity would comprise:• Australia-wide consultations with each State and Territory’s Youth Advisory Group (YAG) based onkey <strong>the</strong>mes identified in recent CREATE Report Cards and o<strong>the</strong>r published research. Thesediscussions focused on confirming that <strong>the</strong> issues raised were of current concern, exploring <strong>the</strong>positive aspects of a young person’s transition, articulating <strong>the</strong> barriers which mitigate againsttransitioning successfully, and investigating <strong>the</strong> availability and appropriateness of supportservices.• A one-day NYAC Forum in which delegates identified and discussed actions and practical solutionsrelating to <strong>the</strong> key issues raised by <strong>the</strong> young people in addition to those outlined in <strong>the</strong> FaHCSIAdiscussion paper for <strong>the</strong> three-phased approach of transitioning to independence.3