Open access

From executive summary:

Young people with experience of child protection or youth justice systems are disproportionately represented amongst Australia’s homeless population. Unacceptably, our child protection and youth justice systems leave children and young people vulnerable and at risk of homelessness.

Each year, approximately 10,000 to 11,000 children and young people nationally are discharged from out of homecare (OoHC), with 15–17-year-olds consistently the largest age group to exit. Leaving care is a critical transition period where case management ceases and often funding and access to services and supports are dramatically reduced, while the needs of young people have not reduced. There is little evidence of the perspectives of the young people who have made these transitions and their views of what would have improved their transition.

How we did it
This work is part of the Constellation Projects Better Journeys initiative that took place in 2021 -2022 with a team of volunteers which included people with lived experience of this transition, who undertook a research project to better understand the experience of young people transitioning from out of home care and youth justice. This solution focused team comprised people from across services, academia, lived experience and business providing a range of skills and insights into the development, process and delivery of this report.

Our research
Our research shows that many will face a tough transition, and in some cases, homelessness. This is not surprising as the rate of young people experiencing homelessness who have a history of involvement with the Child Protection (CP) and Youth Justice (YJ) systems is high, pointing to a large systemic failure.

Despite policies and processes designed to protect young people, this report finds the young people interviewed did not feel supported or ready to leave the systems when the time came to move into independent living. Nor did the practitioners involved in these systems judge support to be adequate.

Developing solutions with those who know
Lived experience is critical in offering insights that may not have been considered previously so that policies and services being developed and implemented meet the needs of their intended beneficiaries. People with lived experience have a unique awareness of how policy decisions and social structures affect them and the community that they are part. To effectively measure the quality of current policies and services and shape future ones, we need these voices at the table.

This document is designed to provide information that assists key stakeholders, from community members to those with paid roles or formal authority, in understanding the needs and aspirations of young people. The information provided in this report can be utilised to better respond, reflect, plan, design and embed the voices of lived experience in service reform. This report highlights the role that young people with relevant lived experience need to play in informing policies and services that directly effect them.