26-29 April, 2022, the fifth biennial Voices in Action Conference will feature the inaugural Caseworker Awards highlighting the appreciation of service and dedication by outstanding professionals in the child protection sector. Behind the scenes, the awards are entirely led and coordinated by a group of passionate young people who know what a difference a great Caseworker can make.
Caseworkers provide many layers of support to vulnerable children and young people in care. Over 45,9961 Australian children and young people are growing up in out-of-home care each with a Caseworker. T
CREATE Foundation is delighted to announce the Inaugural Caseworker Awards, coordinated by young people with a care experience to acknowledge the dedicated Caseworkers who are making a positive difference to the lives of children and young people in care.
Why are awards needed? All too often the stories of a system under strain dominate the public rhetoric, leaving no space for shining a light on the professionals who dedicate their energy and time to positively influence and support the lives of arguably the most disadvantaged children and young people in the community.
CREATE’s Caseworker Awards will acknowledge excellence in casework for children and young people with a care experience. Winners will be announced at the Voices in Action Conference: Resilient, Resourceful, Remarkable, 26-29 April 2022. Read more via link below:
https://create.org.au/creates-caseworker-awards/
Voices in Action: Resilient, Resourceful, Remarkable.
The ViA conference is bringing 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. During the conference there will be new competitions, fun, interactive creative workshops, co-facilitated with Life Without Barriers.
Speakers include 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.
Don’t miss this opportunity to come together as a community in 2022! Register today via link below.
2022 Conference sponsors include: DSS Federal Government, SA Government, Life Without Barriers, NT Government, Mackillop Family Services, Proudly supported by the Queensland Government, Key Assets, Anglicare Victoria. Young person sponsors: WA Commissioner for Children and Young People, Department of Communities.
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/
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:
1. 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).
2. Young people in out-of-home care are 16 times more likely to be under a youth justice order than the general population.
3. 30% of young people experience homelessness within the first year of leaving care. (McDowall, J. J. (2020).
4. 46% of males have been involved with the justice system since leaving care.
5. 29% of young people who have left care or preparing to leave care are unemployed.
6. 36% children and young people in care do not live with any of their siblings.
7. 35% of young people in care have five or more caseworkers during their time in care.
8. 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.
