Page 1453 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011
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It is also about social interaction and being able to extend and maintain those social networks. It will extend the idea of social networks and the importance of that social interaction to these teenagers with disability who also need the opportunity to spend social time with their peers. That is quite often what the after-school programs can provide. At the moment many of them have to leave school and go straight to their homes. They do not have the option of leaving the house and meeting friends down at the park or whatever. That is not an option for them. But if we can have programs where these teenagers can spend time in the afternoon having some fun, socialising and maybe also learning some living skills, I think that will be a good outcome.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Women) (3.38): I thank Ms Hunter for bringing this motion on. After-school care is an important support network for families of children and teenagers. It is no less important for families who have a son or daughter with a disability. For many of these parents after-school care becomes a crucial part of their formal support arrangements. It is therefore quite important that we get that support structure right, for the wellbeing of both the young person and the family unit as a whole.
We have heard the message from families, through a range of consultation forums, including the Standing Committee on Health, Community and Social Services report Love has its limits—respite care services in the ACT. After-school care is needed by some families to enable parents to continue in their employment and manage care of their children and the day to day challenges of running a home. After-school and holiday care also provides important opportunities for the child and the young person. Whether or not the child or young person has a disability, it can provide unique opportunities to make friends, to learn, to play, to build life skills and to establish an identity outside the love and the shelter of the family home.
The Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services is in the process of commissioning a scoping study that will provide options for the provision of after-school care for older children with a disability. I picked up some level of angst I think from Ms Hunter’s words—there was a description about this being a business case, and I understand that that may have not truly reflected what we were seeking to do in this piece of work that we are commissioning. The piece of work that we are commissioning will include advice on best practice approaches to providing after-school and vacation care to young people with a disability. It will provide advice on service delivery options, including the location of services such as specialist schools, identify any resource implications related to transport and support services, and confirm the likely demand for a new service.
Ms Hunter’s motion calls on the government to discontinue this work and to replace it with an assessment to determine best practice and service models. This is what this work will do. I foreshadow some revised amendments to the motion that have been circulated in my name, and I will move them at the end. Ms Hunter is asking that the government provide after-school care at each of Canberra’s four specialist schools, and I think I have made mention that the amendments that I will put forward certainly
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