Care can’t stop at 18 if we’re going to curb homelessness

Today is Youth Homelessness Matters Day, and tonight an estimated 6000 young West Australians will not have a safe place to call home.

The vast majority will be hidden from view, sleeping rough in hidden corners, living temporarily in over-subscribed shelters or couch-surfing in a friend or family member’s lounge room.

Anglicare WA’s youth homelessness services support more than 1100 homeless young people in Perth each year. Our youth workers, such as those from the Street Connect mobile outreach project, encounter young people struggling to survive with the everyday reality of homelessness.

Our youth workers report a disproportionate number of these young homeless people were once in State care. So troubled was their childhood that our legal system determined they were not safe to remain in their family, yet they ended up without a safe place to live.

Rates of homelessness among young people who have left State care are disturbingly high in Australia; Swinburne University’s 2015 national study of 400 homeless young people found 63 per cent in that situation.

In WA, about 200 young people “age-out” from out-of-home care each year.

Apart from a few sporadic and poorly applied provisions, government support to these young people, their care givers and case workers stops abruptly at age 18.

Regardless of the young person’s ability or disability, or whether they are still at school or unemployed, or whether they suffer from depression or a physical illness, or whether they are friendless or a new parent, the support they have received under State care ends at 18. So, happy birthday — you’re now on your own.

Today most 18–24 year olds live in the family home. Yet those the State determined needed our protection don’t get the same opportunity.

Independent living is not easy for those whose backgrounds often mean they don’t have the self-confidence, social skills or education to suddenly become adults at the end of their 17th year. The result is a growing stream of young care leavers progressing to homelessness.

Australia is increasingly in the minority among Western nations abandoning out-of-home care support when young people turn 18.

Many European nations, the UK and many of the United States have enshrined in law continued support to young people in care.

The argument for providing young people the option of extending this care to age 21 cannot be challenged; the jury is in and the benefits are clear.

It leads to better lives; less homelessness, less crime, less hospitalisation and fewer young mums.

If we recall the experiences these young people are overcoming, we have a moral obligation to act.

There is also a compelling financial case for an option to extend the age of leaving care.

A study by Deloitte commissioned by Anglicare Victoria has shown that all Australian governments would save considerable money by extending out-of-home care. In WA’s case, every $1 spent on raising the leaving care age will save $2.17.

It’s difficult to fathom why our politicians wouldn’t be acting to ensure that young people in care are seen through to adulthood.

The biggest savings would be a reduction in homelessness (cut by half), hospitalisation (cut by a third) and fewer arrests (cut by 35 per cent).

The study finds there would also be significant savings through improved mental health, physical health and social connectedness.

Turning 18 doesn’t make you an adult. Science tells us that adolescence does not finish until about 25 years.

It’s difficult to fathom why our politicians wouldn’t be acting to ensure that young people in care are seen through to adulthood.

Many have teenage children of their own and would not contemplate ending their parental care and support the day they turn 18.

On Youth Homelessness Matters Day, we need to recognise that our out-of-home care system is a big part of the problem.

Last year, Anglicare WA joined the national Home Stretch Campaign to push for change. We are urging the State Government, as the largest parent in the State, to provide an option to extend State care to any young person until 21 years, much like any other family setting in Australia.

We believe that giving these young people this option will provide them with the platform to make the right start in life and enjoy better long-term outcomes. It’s the right thing to do.

Mark Glasson is director of services at Anglicare WA.

Sign up to support the extension of care to 21 years.

Read original article here.