Foster Care Victoria

Foster care training will be held in Box Hill beginning at the end of May which uses the Shared Stories Shared Lives package. Training is free of charge and is open to anyone who would like to know more about the foster care system, supporting children who have expereinced trauma or who is interested in becoming involved in foster care at any level.

There are information sessions being held over Melbourne’s east about the training or 1300 889 335 is the number to call to inquire about booking.

While Australians are reeling from a youth week dominated by confronting documentaries and reports about youth homelessness, our American friends are also amplifying stories of homeless. This blog/forum has a series of 5 minute interviews and is well worth some time to explore.

This invitation was published on Maroondah Leader’s Website.

Much discussion has occurred lately in the media surrounding the challenges faced by parents raising children in the electronic age – ‘An Evening with Andrew Fuller’ to be held on Thursday 17 April at Tintern Girls Grammar promises to delivery many of the answers.

During the course of the evening Andrew, Clinical Psychologist and Family Therapist, explores parenting strategies for raising real people and embracing the new ‘click and go’ generation. While Andrew is a Fellow of the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Learning and Educational Development at the University of Melbourne, he offers parents realistic and down-to-earth solutions for the challenges that our children face.

The evening is open to anyone interested in raising confident and happy children and commences at 7pm in the CM Wood Centre, Tintern Girls Grammar, 90 Alexandra Road, Ringwood East.

This morning on Radio National’s Life Matters two issues related to Out of Home Care were raised in very interesting ways.

The first came from a (former?) foster carer who was raising the problem of bureaucrats vs what she calls “realocrats”- those people with real experiences of the issues on the ground. Helen Kinniburgh certainly made a good case for what I think many of us have been frustrated with after seeing report after report, recommendation after recommendation without avenues for the voices of foster carers and other volunteers (and workers in various fields I should add) being heard.

While we certainly advocate for changes as we see fit, the summit would have really benefited from some of this rich experience.

The second was from CBC in Canada and looked at Grandparents who care in a kinship care arrangement. Again, I think it is vitally important for these under the radar issues to be given a platform in the hope that supports will follow.

The Youth Homelessness report has a specific section on Out of Home care (Section 9, beginning pg 225). This is part of the introduction:

Young people with a ‘care background’ are over-represented in the youth homeless population. The 2006 national census of homeless school students found that close to 15 per cent of homeless students may have had an experience in state care. In Project i’s sample of 200 young people entering SAAP services in Melbourne about one in five had been in care and protection at some point. Chamberlain and Johnson found that 42 per cent of adults and young people in SAAP have been in state care at some stage of their lives. UnitingCare Burnside (NSW) suggested several reasons for this:
Young people in care or those who have been in care have a heightened vulnerability to homelessness due to:

- lack of or disrupted familial connections;

- childhood trauma which in some cases may lead to learning disabilities and early disengagement with the education system;

- difficulty in finding foster carers for young people, particularly those with difficult behaviours arising out of their pre-care experience;

-multiple placements resulting in a lack of community connections.

 

These are just some of the reccomendations:

 

Recommendation 9.1

The NYC Inquiry recommends that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission [HREOC] consider a national inquiry into care and protection. The Inquiry should:

- review policy and practice on care and protection from a human rights perspective;

- consider new Federal-state cooperative programs and initiatives, especially early intervention and prevention in terms of family and community support;

- advise on what reforms, structures and processes are required;

- provide advice on how change might best be implemented and the scale of reforms and resources needed.

Recommendation 9.5

The NYC Inquiry recommends that all jurisdictions urgently review the level of funding provided to their care and protection programs, and develop a remedial strategy for addressing the selection, training and support of staff as well as the real need for care and protection services in the community.

 

 

With the release of the Youth Homelessness report there have been quite a few discussions and debates across the media in relation to tackling this issue.

Also, The Oasis, a documentary on this subject will be shown on ABC tomorrow night looks to be very interesting and although it won’t look at foster care specifically, many of the issues that put families and individuals at risk of child protection concerns also increase risks of homelessness. The accompanying website is also worth exploration.

While on the subject of national issues, perhaps this report is opportunistic in it’s timing with the 2020 Summit including a forum on “Strengthening Communities, Supporting Families and Social Inclusion”.

I’ve just had a browse through the CREATE blogs by young people formerly in care. 

I think coming back to the perspectives of children and young people’s experiences of care is really important in reminding us what really matters. These contributions show strong and resiliant young people who should be very proud of themselves.    

Lizzy, a Foster Care Victoria Blog reader has rightly highlighted the fantastic work of the CREATE Foundation, who support young people in care and also those who are about to leave care.

The challenges confronting teenagers when they leave care were raised in the SBS Insight forum back last month. These challenges are really significant as the young people involved in the program conveyed.

CREATE is also setting up opportunties for young people leaving the system to share their stories through a blog. This seems to be a new facility and I would encourage all young people who’ve experiences foster care to get involved.     

Our post about the issue of mandatory reporting of abuse for religious leaders attracted quite a lot of attention. Interestingly this article in Maroondah’s Leader also takes up the debate again, looking at responses from churches.

A Catholic priest said he though the church should question the church’s stance, adding “I believe it’s up to the conscience to report it to the police”.

Is it enough- or even fair- to ask religious leaders to make that call?    

A rather downbeat article which shares the findings of research into abuse in care from the 1940s onwards - here .