Foster Care Queensland
News and Events
Transition from Care: Background, Changes and Developments
The Transition from Care Working Party arose from the Child Protection Partnership Forum and meets with the focus of exploring the issues and barriers regarding Transition from Care (TFC) policy and practice, as well as to provide recommendations for suggested improvements. The Transition from Care Working Party involves a number of key child protection partners including CREATE, PeakCare, Foster Care Queensland (FCQ), Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian (Commission), Child Safety services, Disability services and Housing and Homelessness .
The TFC Working Party proposed that the month of November 2009 be promoted across Child Safety Service Centres (CSSC) as a time to focus on TFC and an opportunity to enhance skills regarding TFC. In conjunction with the promotion of TFC, training will be provided to all Child Safety Officers as a Practice Skills Development Workshop (PSDW) to further develop the skills and capacity of staff to engage with and inform young people about services and supports for TFC.
The purpose of this training it to emphasize that TFC is more that putting in a submission for a washing machine or entertainment unit for young people about to turn 18. It was recognized that there needs to be a focus from transition and leaving care to a focus on transitioning from adolescence to adulthood and developing interdependence with family and community. TFC is about spending time to build those relationships with young people to identify supports, networks and resources to begin that future planning and to make referrals to services such as Housing and Homelessness and Disability services as identified.
TFC policy and procedures have been reviewed in the Child Safety Practice Manual and will be released in the near future.
Child Safety services have been working on the ways that CSSC staff can promote TFC through local events such as BBQs or information sessions for young people and carers and to provide opportunities for information sharing between Child Safety services, Housing and Homelessness, Disability services and Centrelink. At this stage it is our understanding that individual CSSCs may plan an event for the month.
FCQ will be joining with Child Safety services in November to promote TFC as a key stage for a young person in care. Next month’s Reporter will take a look at the TFC policy and what resources are available to carers and young people. In the meantime keep an ear to the ground for any developments at your local CSSC.
Transition from Care: Background, Changes and Developments
In October’s reporter article on TFC we introduced you to the members of the Transition from Care Working Party which involves a number of key child protection partners including CREATE, PeakCare, Foster Care Queensland (FCQ), Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian (Commission), Child Safety, Disability, Housing and Homelessness, and the function of the working party to explore the issues and barriers regarding TFC policy and practice, as well as to provide recommendations for suggested improvements.
So, what is TFC? TFC is a process that involves case planning and case work that commences for young people in care at 15 years of age, and intensifies as the young person approaches 18 years to assist their planned exit from care and may continue after the young person turns 18 years of age. The process of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood is recognised as a key time for young people and requires collaborative partnerships between foster carers and other key people in the young person’s life.
In November, Child Safety are rolling out a Practice Skills Development Workshop to all Child Safety Officers to further develop the skills and capacity of staff to engage with and inform young people about services and supports for TFC. To coincide with the training, Child Safety has developed new TFC resources for CSOs and young people that can be accessed directly by foster carers and NGOs by going to the Child Safety website and downloading them.
Go to www.childsafety.qld.gov.au/fostercare/youth/transitioning-from -care.html
The resources developed are TFC Employment, education and training and TFC information to assist young people during meetings to plan their transition to independent living. These fabulous resources are chock full of concise information about how to register for services and benefits and include information on TILA, Medicare, TFN, how to enrol to vote, Centrelink benefits, Housing, Employment and Jobsearch, Education and Training, Social Skills, Counselling and Support Services, Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, Advocacy and Legal Services, Referral Services and Transport. Links to websites are provided throughout the booklets as well as contact telephone numbers for the relevant service providers. FCQ encourages all foster carers caring for young people aged between 15 and 18 to access these resources themselves and to have a chat to their support agency and CSO about the case planning around TFC for the young person in care and how they can collaborate with the young person and Child Safety to ensure the views and needs of the young person are heard and identified.
Other TFC events happening in November include the CREATE launch of their annual TFC report card which compiles research from a survey conducted with young people exiting care and provides feedback to Child Safety on what has occurred for some young people during their TFC and areas for improvement. Peak Care will continue to promote partnerships through their networks of affiliated agencies and the Department of Communities. The Commission for Children, Young People and Child Guardian’s Community Visitor program will use this opportunity to engage with young people in visitable homes and visitable sites to discuss TFC and promote the TFC resources. Housing and Homelessness has prepared a Fact Sheet for their staff informing them of TFC and the need to develop Joint Action Plans to determine the type of housing assistance required by a person exiting care. Disability Services have completed the recruitment process for Transition Officers whose role focuses on the transition needs of young people in care with a disability and will facilitate the two week induction training of these officers during November. Child Safety’s Regional Planning and Partnership Officers will be available to assist staff within Child Safety to plan or promote any regional initiatives based on localised priorities to improve coordination in planning of services for TFC. Foster Care Queensland recognises the irreplaceable role that foster carers play in preparing and supporting young people into independence. The above information will be collated on FCQ’s website with the relevant web-links for interested carers to access further information.
Queensland Foster and Kinship Care Conference 2009
Post conference magazine (3.2Mb)
