An easier path out of state care
Dr Philip Mendes
By Dr Philip Mendes
Young people leaving state out-of-home care are arguably one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society. “Leaving care” is formally defined as the cessation of legal responsibility by the state for young people living in out-of-home care. In practice, leaving care is a major life event, a process that involves transitioning from dependence on state-provided accommodation and support to self-sufficiency.
About 2700 young people nationally and less than 600 young people in Victoria aged 15 to 17 years leave care each year. Some do very well and have achieved prominence in sporting, political and public life. But too many are reliant on Australia’s income security, health and welfare, homeless, criminal justice and other crisis intervention systems.
The reasons for their disadvantage are very simple. Firstly, many young people have experienced and are still recovering from physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect prior to entering care. Secondly, many have experienced inadequacies in state care such as poor quality caregivers and constant shifts of placement, carers, schools and workers. Thirdly, many have little, if any, direct family or community support to call upon as they move into independent living for the first time.
In addition to these major disadvantages, many young people, at 16 to 18 years of age, currently experience an abrupt end to the formal support networks of state care.
The pathway towards achieving better outcomes for care leavers via a normative leaving care model is well known, but has arguably not been adopted by governments due to a narrow economic judgement that additional assistance will only encourage further expensive dependency on state support. The alternative argument holds that greater social investment in care leavers in the short to medium term is likely to prove both socially and economically productive by reducing the degree of dependency and government costs in the longer term.
The first necessary reform is improving the quality of care. Positive in-care experiences involving a secure attachment with a supportive carer are essential in order to overcome damaging pre-care experiences of abuse or neglect.
The second component is the transition from care. This includes both preparation for leaving care and actually moving from the placement into transitional or half-way supportive arrangements, usually around the ages of 16 to 21 years. The preparation needs to include a formal leaving care plan which targets future directions for the young person and provides a clear operational framework to translate that plan into action. The transition needs to be less accelerated rather than happening abruptly at the end of the formal child protection order, and instead become a gradual and flexible process based on levels of maturity and skill development, rather than simply age.
The third component is ongoing support after care until approximately 25 years of age. This may involve a continuation of existing care and supports and/or specialist leaving care services in areas such as accommodation, finance, education, employment, health and social networks.
In short, care authorities should aim to approximate the ongoing and holistic support that responsible parents in the community typically provide to their children after they leave home. Providing adequate supports for care leavers in Australia is relatively cheap given the small number of care leavers in any one year, and will provide substantial social and economic gains for both the young people concerned and Australian society more generally.
Associate Professor Philip Mendes is the Director of the Social Inclusion and Social Policy Research Unit in the Department of Social Work at Monash University.