26-29 April, 2022, the Voices in Action: Resilient, Resourceful, Remarkable conference, will bring together key decision makers, young people with a lived experience of out-of-home care and experts to find solutions to the toughest problems within the care sector.
This fifth biennial Voices in Action Conference includes new competitions for young people attending, as well as a raft of fun, interactive creative workshops, co-facilitated with Life Without Barriers.
The Voices in Action Conference (ViA) enables a truly global perspective, highlighted by our geographically dispersed guest speakers, including Canadian resilience expert, Dr Michael Ungar, Ph.D., Melbournian consultant psychologist, Gregory Nicolau, Britain’s Caine Wild and Sydney’s Isaiah Dawe, each sharing their unique insights and expertise throughout the conference.
Dr Michael Ungar, Ph.D is the founder and Director of the Resilience Research Centre at Dalhousie University, whose ground-breaking work as a family therapist and resilience researcher achieves international recognition.
Consultant Psychologist and founder of both The Australian Childhood Trauma Group and, Ripple mental health app, Gregory Nicolau will share his skills and expertise conference as both speaker and MC, creating a powerful platform for attendees to have their say and be heard during the four-day event.
The 2022 ViA keynote speaker is Isaiah Dawe, CEO of the Aboriginal mentoring organisation for Aboriginal young people in foster care, ID. Know Yourself.
Britain’s, Caine Wild, is the Company Director and founder of First Step Wild Ltd, who will be sharing a dynamic presentation of collective insights about growing up in care.
Voices in Action: Resilient, Resourceful, Remarkable.
Don’t miss this opportunity to come together as a community in 2022! Register by 11 March 2022 to receive a posted delegate satchel.
In Australia alone, over 45,9961 children did not sleep in their own home last night and are presently growing up in out-of-home care. Further to this, five percent of Australia’s children identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and yet this same cohort disproportionately represent more than a third of children in out-of-home-care (approximately 18,862). The need for appropriate supports and resources for those in care remains urgent.
CREATE Foundation is the national consumer body representing the voices of children and young people with an out-of-home care experience (including kinship care, foster care and residential care). CREATE develops policy and research to report on and advocate for a better care system.
Conference schedule and speaker updates & registration links via: https://voicesinaction.create.org.au/
For information please visit the CREATE website at www.create.org.au
For further comment from CREATE’s Chief Executive, Ms Jacqui Reed, and/or a young person with care experience contact Leigh White, CREATE Media Advisor, via (m) 0431 932 122 or leigh.white@create.org.au
Key statistics on the care sector in Australia:
- 45,996 children and young people were reported in 2019-20 as living in out-of-home care across Australia (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, 2021).
- Young people in out-of-home care are 16 times more likely to be under a youth justice order than the general population.
- 30% of young people experience homelessness within the first year of leaving care. (McDowall, J. J. (2020).
- 46% of males have been involved with the justice system since leaving care.
- 29% of young people who have left care or preparing to leave care are unemployed.
- 36% children and young people in care do not live with any of their siblings.
- 35% of young people in care have five or more caseworkers during their time in care.
- 67% of young people in care over the age of 15 are not aware of having a leaving care plan.
McDowall, J. J. (2018). Out-of-home care in Australia: Children and young people’s views after five years of National Standards. Sydney: CREATE Foundation.
