Page 392 - Week 01 - Thursday, 16 February 2012
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MR SPEAKER: I understand it is the wish of the Assembly to debate this bill cognately with private members’ business order of the day No 18, Children and Young People (Transition to Independence) Amendment Bill 2011. That being the case, I remind members that in debating order of the day No 3, executive business, they may also address their remarks to private members’ business order of the day No 18.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (5.37): The Liberal opposition have long been strong advocates for a program that provides our young people with an orderly, well-structured and accessible transition out of the care and protection system and into fully fledged adulthood.
The two bills before the Assembly today seek to put in place a number of measures designed to make the process of transition to independence one that is holistic and inclusive. This process of transition is designed to provide the support that young people in the care and protection system need in order to help them to move from day-to-day foster or kinship care to independent living. It is designed to help them begin their lives as young adults and to make a valuable and worthwhile contribution to the community.
The whole notion of transition recognises what all parents know—that there is not a magic switch on our children that at the age of 18 suddenly turns them into fully functioning, autonomous adults where nothing goes wrong.
Ms Burch: That would be nice, though.
MRS DUNNE: I do acknowledge the comment across the chamber from Ms Burch that that would be nice; but it is not the case and we live in the real world. The challenge we face as a community and the challenge the government faces is to minimise or, with some proactive and pragmatic management, eliminate the risk that a young person transitioning from care to independence will find that transition too sudden and too much to deal with. The risk is that if these young people are not supported at this critical time they can too easily descend into a life of crime or drug and alcohol abuse, psychological disorders, poverty, homelessness. The risk is that these young people will not have the capacity to achieve as much as would have been the case elsewhere.
These two bills do two important things. Firstly, transition support plans will be developed and reviewed regularly for all young people currently or previously in the care and protection program, in consultation with those young people as well as certain others, including their carers. This supported transition, along with regular reviews of the plans, will continue until the young people go through their early young adult years; that is, until they turn 25.
Secondly, supported transition will include making available to young adults their personal information and records and providing assistance, including financial assistance, to young adults to access other services. Access to personal information and records is of critical importance because it not only provides young adults with
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