Page 3485 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 September 2015
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As Minister for Children and Young People, I am pleased to table the Children and Young People Amendment Bill 2015 (No 3). In January this year the Chief Minister and I launched a step up for our kids—one step can make a lifetime of difference, the government’s new five-year strategy to reform out of home care in the ACT.
The bill will give effect to important elements of this reform, in turn supporting better outcomes for children and young people in care. As is the case nationally, the ACT community is facing many challenges when it comes to providing out of home care services, and outcomes for young people who have been in care are generally poorer than the broader community, whether socially, in education or in employment.
We know that young people who exit the care system are less likely to be employed and are at greater risk of mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Most concerning, though, is that adults who have experienced out of home care are more likely to have children who are subjected to abuse, trauma and neglect.
Here in the ACT we want to step up for vulnerable children, young people and their families and a step up for our kids will transform our support for them. A step up for our kids creates an environment that goes further than before in delivering the right kind of support to children and young people and at the right time in their lives.
The aim of a step up for our kids is simple—to provide vulnerable children and young people with loving, safe homes and supports to lead productive lives. Whether this is reuniting children and young people with their birth parents or being placed with a new stable, loving family, we want the best outcomes to be realised for everyone.
The system will truly place the child or young person at the centre of the system. It is based on trauma-informed support that acknowledges the individual trauma experienced by a child or young person through abuse and neglect. A step up for our kids will see an additional $16 million investment in the out of home care sector and is underpinned by the following four key domains: developing a therapeutic trauma-informed care system; strengthening high risk families; developing a continuum of care for children and young people; and strengthening accountability and ensuring a high functioning care system.
The amendments proposed in this bill will enable a range of changes required to deliver a system of care that gives vulnerable children and young people the most stable, productive lives possible. These include establishing stability in a family environment as early as possible, transferring full parental responsibility for a child to a carer as early as possible, ensuring quality of care for children and young people in foster and kinship care, simplifying the approval process for carers, supporting young people to transition into adulthood, sharing information about children and young people with the care team, maintaining a life story for children and young people in care, enhancing safeguards for children and young people in care, and establishing third-party oversight of the proposed amendments.
Through this bill we are supporting the overarching principles of a step up for our kids by promoting good outcomes for children and young people, simplified administrative
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