Australian children in government care miss access to vital education

Claire Halliday
Claire Halliday

At their recent Adopt Change #THRIVE2023 A Home and Healing for Every Child conference, the national not-for-profit organisation used a number of seats in the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground stadium to provide a powerful visual representation of the number of children in care around the country. Too many of these young people are on a trajectory to homelessness, interactions with juvenile justice, and bouncing from one home to another throughout their childhood – often without completing their education.

To help address this serious issue, Adopt Change brings together key voices together to deliver urgent support and help to those currently in the out-of-home care system.

With 4,500 of the children in the government care system – some of them infants – living in motels and residential group settings, Adopt Change is bringing together government, leaders in child and family welfare, children’s commissioners, global thought leaders, and those with lived experience to tackle solutions for this critical issue head-on. Supported by governments across the country, #THRIVE2023 focused on addressing the plight of Australia’s most vulnerable youth – the more than 45,000 children and young people currently living in state care, with particular focus on the ten percent (4,500) not currently in a family home.

Advocating for home-based, loving care

Renée Carter is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Adopt Change, and says the organisation is driven by “a vision for a home for every child that is safe, nurturing and stable so that children can grow, learn, play, and thrive”.

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“It is our mission to support and educate families and communities in caring for displaced children,” she told EducationDaily.

“In Australia, over 45,000 children are in out-of-home care because they can’t live safely at home. Almost 4,500 are in non-home-based care, such as hotels, motels, and residential group settings being looked after by workers on shift.”

In such settings, young people find it virtually impossible to have their educational needs met – and that reality can have lifelong consequences.

“When basic needs aren’t being met, the ability to focus in a classroom setting is impacted,” Ms Carter says. “Children in out-of-home care have often experienced trauma to an extent their ability to learn is compromised. When this occurs, it is important to have a trauma-informed and aware learning environment. Unfortunately, the impacts of trauma and associated needs is not understood by the wider community, and trauma supports in the classroom are few and far between.”

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It’s why Adopt Change has developed a trauma-awareness resource for schools, to introduce the concept of trauma and outline key areas for trauma-informed teaching practice.

“This resource was further developed to form the Empower Change program, a free online program designed to assist youth exiting care with practical tools, tips and resources to navigate the years ahead,” Ms Carter told EducationDaily.

Safe, stable environments can help children thrive

Adopt Change Founder and global humanitarian Deborra-lee Furness says:

“All children are precious and need a safe, loving, permanent home environment to thrive. We have been shining a light on this issue for over a decade, and while we are making progress in some areas, the numbers and circumstances that we are seeing today are still deeply alarming. Infants living in ‘pop-up orphanages’ and motels with shift workers who are not trained in trauma-informed care is unacceptable. This issue needs to be a high priority on the agenda of our chosen leaders. Energy, enthusiasm, education and creativity is what we need to find a solution. The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.”

But with carers in short supply and under crushing economic pressures, the number of children entering care and not being raised in a home is rising. The commitment to providing therapeutic care and permanency for healing needs urgent attention.

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“Children enter the care system, typically on the basis of an unsafe family environment. The intention is that they are then placed in home-based care either short term or long term to be raised by a family and provided with safety, stability and healing,” Ms Carter says. “Too often, this is not being delivered for these children and their trauma is compounded. This has to stop, and Australia needs to do better by its children. We will continue to push for a commitment to A Home and Healing for Every Child so that we see better childhoods and futures for our nation’s kids.”

Listening to First Nations voices

One of the key topics also addressed at #THRIVE2023 was the over-representation of Aboriginal children and young people in the care system. Brenda Matthews, author of The Last Daughter – now a Netflix documentary, and SNAICC Board Member Candice Butler delivered a keynote address on the issue and delegates also heard the perspectives of First Nations organisations Children’s Ground about empowering children and families as a key to systemic reform, as well as Curijio on the lethality of loneliness and healing through connection.

By collating the collective voice of participants and presenting the National Recommendations Paper to government, outlining clear recommendations to keep Australia’s most vulnerable children safe, the organisation hopes more positive – and sustainable – change can be achieved.

Tom Allsop, CEO of Peakcare in Queensland joined Ms Carter on a panel to discuss the prevalence of placing children in residential group homes and highlighted the dire situation for children in that state in residential group settings.

“Queensland has more than 1,750 children in residential care with almost one in three are under the age of 12,” Mr Allsop says. “We need urgent action to reduce the number of infants and children in residential care by investing in family-based and alternative therapeutic models of care that we know can deliver better and more permanent outcomes for most children.”

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Claire Halliday has an extensive career as a full-time writer - across book publishing, copywriting, podcasting and feature journalism - for more than 25 years. She lives in Melbourne with children, two border collies and a grumpy Burmese cat. Contact: claire.halliday[at]brandx.live