Page 1736 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 June 2021

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(e) the ACT government’s current out-of-home care strategy includes a joint education and training pathways initiative intended to improve education and training outcomes and identify and reduce barriers to participation in education; and

(f) this initiative includes encouraging attendance, addressing absenteeism in collaboration with child protection staff, and developing an individual learning plan for each child;

(2) also notes that:

(a) according to research, protective factors that support children and young people engaging well with education include having carers who support learning, are confident and able to act as mentors and tutors, and know how to establish environments conducive to learning;

(b) to succeed at providing these protective factors, carers in many cases benefit from training and instruction; and

(c) successful initiatives such as Anglicare Victoria’s TEACHaR program provide services such as one-on-one tutoring as well as support for out-of-home care staff to strengthen and enrich the education culture in residential care environments; and

(3) calls on the ACT government to:

(a) ensure that staff in residential care homes and Bimberi Youth Justice Centre receive ongoing training and support specifically designed to increase their confidence and ability to mentor and tutor residents in literacy and numeracy and to contribute towards building rich learning environments;

(b) review Anglicare Victoria’s TEACHaR program and explore ways that a similar service could be made available in the ACT; and

I am proud to bring this motion before the Assembly today. I do so at the urging of some who have worked in residential care homes here in the ACT. These dedicated, passionate youth workers have sought to do all that they could to help the children and young people in their care, and they have great hopes for these kids. Their lived experiences have given them insights that we in this chamber should consider carefully and take seriously. Today I am honoured to bring those insights into this place.

Three weeks ago, I brought a motion before this Assembly calling on the government to commit to supporting the universal extension of out of home care services to age 21, including for those in residential care placements. I also asked for improved data collection on young people who have exited care. I am grateful that support for these recommendations was unanimous.

When speaking to my previous motion, I noted that, according to research, 50 per cent of care leavers in Australia end up homeless, in jail or as new parents within 12 months of exiting care. We understand that these difficulties are caused in part by an abrupt exit from care before a young person is ready to be independent. This can

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