Page 5924 - Week 14 - Thursday, 8 December 2011
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The third key element of the proposed amendments is a level of financial assistance. The government recognises that most parents provide some financial support to their children to help them move into adulthood. This could be contributions towards education and training costs, accommodation bonds and household furnishings when moving to independent living, or to assist when seeking employment.
The ACT Labor government wants to provide to young people who were previously in out-of-home care similar supports enjoyed by other young adults. The bill provides that the director-general may provide some level of financial assistance to a young person or young adult who has been in out-of-home care. To ensure that the money is used appropriately, there will be safeguards in the bill whereby the director-general will need to be satisfied that the assistance is necessary and the level appropriate.
The fourth key element of the proposed amendments is support and assistance for young people to access information and records when they were in care. Research tells us that young people knowing about their history in out-of-home care is crucial to their chances of developing a sense of self and their capacity to realise their abilities throughout life. Persons seeking access to their records and information do so at times in their lives when they have an emotional need for information such as why they were placed in out-of-home care. This information may not be easily obtainable and may be held by multiple government agencies such as the Community Services, Health, Justice and Community Safety or Education directorates.
Currently, people may only formally access their records through a freedom of information application. This process does not take into account the emotional and personal needs of the young person and may not be an appropriate method for receiving this information. The proposed amendments make accessing information and records held during the young person’s out-of-home care part of the support and assistance. This will be done in a manner that assists with the young person’s wellbeing and healing.
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to recommendation 182 of the Select Committee on Estimates report on Appropriation Bill 2011-12 which was around transition planning and is part of the support and assistance for young people transitioning from out-of-home care as outlined in this bill. This government wants to see better outcomes for young people transitioning from care. This is why this Labor government has committed over $2 million over four years to extend support services to young people transitioning from care beyond the statutory age of 18 to the age of 25. As I have said earlier, this funding will establish an outreach service that will provide transition support to young people, including developing and implementing transition plans, ensuring the young person’s needs have been identified and appropriate supports are in place.
The bill forms part of a strategy which will formalise these supports and provide a legislative basis to assist young people transitioning from out-of-home care. The bill is very clear in requiring transition planning to commence for all young people. The bill outlines that the review of transition planning must be done in consultation with
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