All parents put every dollar they can towards the care, comfort, education, health and opportunities for their children – setting them up for the brightest future possible. Does the Allan government’s budget demonstrate this level of commitment for children and young people in its care?
For children and young people removed from their families through no fault of their own, the Allan government plays the vital role of carer and parent through the child protection and out-of-home care system and across all areas of a child’s life – education, health, mental health, housing, employment and community services.
Children and young people with a care experience tell CREATE Foundation about their hopes to be safe, connected and thriving – in every area of life, from where they live, the schools and universities they attend, and sporting and artistic pursuits. First Nations children and young people in care want to be connected to family, culture and community. Young people’s experiences of the ‘parental care’ of government and of when care stops at 21 years old, tell a different story. Most commonly, government has failed to ‘parent’ these children, and the simple and ordinary aspirations for childhood are not fulfilled. Far too many Victorian young people exit to housing instability, poverty, unemployment and disconnection from culture and community, with continued basic health, mental health and disability supports not in place.
Each state budget is an opportunity to reset the level and quality of care, to respond to the aspirations of children and young people, and to invest in childhoods now to ensure that the lifelong impacts are positive.
CREATE Foundation is concerned about the tensions and imbalance in this budget, the missed opportunities, and the likelihood of inconsistency of care and continuing poor outcomes for children involved with child protection. This is disappointing in a context where robust evidence and pathways forward have been mapped out – through Royal Commissions into Family Violence and Mental Health, and the Yoorook Justice Commission. The budget fails to match the ambition, advice and insights provided to the Victorian government from brave and thoughtful children and young people with care experience in the Child Protection system.
Young people in care have told CREATE that ‘We want to have genuine opportunities to shape any related discussion and decisions’… ‘Listen to us about how we are feeling and how we want to change something or see something. Just listen and sit there’.
With its 2025 budget, the Victorian government lifts up children, young people and families with one hand, and sends children in its care to prison with the other.
Keep listening to the voices, insights and lived-experiences of children and young people in care, keep reforming and improving child protection.
In what is a challenging economic environment, the Allan government continues to invest in child protection and family services, with some additional support for children and young people with complex needs in residential care. The chronic underfunding of this system over years requires a strategic approach to rebuilt the base investment to match reform commitments made. The models for early intervention, robust and integrated supports are vital, where government champions the brightest futures for children. With specialist responses and extra care to respond to trauma and disruption to attachment during formative developmental years. CREATE welcomes the opportunity for ongoing improvement to child protection systems in Victoria, evidence-informed programs and early intervention supports that keep children with their families and prioritise reunification.
Young Victorian’s in care have told us that ‘…sometimes the people you trust are not trained in how to help you.’.
CREATE supports the Victorian government’s efforts to listen to the voices and experiences of young people, and consider advice from children and young people who have lived experiences of their childhoods in the care of the Victorian government.
Closing the Gap and reducing over-representation in out-of-home care and youth justice must be a priority.
First Nations young people in care have told CREATE that ‘Culture is important, because without it, I wouldn’t be me. My culture is important but I wish I had the chance to undertand it more growing up in care’. They want every child and young person who has contact with the child protection system to have a better experience than they have… ‘I want to help other kids that have been in care re-connect to their family, country and culture’.
CREATE supports all investment in efforts towards ‘Closing the Gap’, Treaty in Victoria, and self-determination. CREATE supports the continued transfer of management of child protection services to Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and First Nations representative bodies. This includes cultural safety investment for new parents, First Nations kindergarten funding, Koorie Youth Council, and Aboriginal-led mental health programs and suicide prevention initiatives. CREATE is concerned, however, that this investment does not go far enough, or provide sufficient certainty, investment and capacity in ACCOs and Aboriginal health, legal, housing and family violence services to reduce the over-representation of First Nations children and young people in out-of-home care, on youth justice orders and in prisons throughout Victoria. In Victoria our First Nations leaders have provided the way forward, and government must do so much more to listen, and act – so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Victoria grow and are raised in community and culture, to their full potential.
Too many young lives are harmed by violence and more must be done.
CREATE welcomes the additional modest investment in prevention of family violence and all efforts that keep children safe, provide housing and support for women and their children. We welcome supports, interventions and specialised models of care to respond to when young people use violence in the home. The bolstering of emergency care responses is vital. However, as children and young people in care are among the most impacted victim-survivors in our community, the budget doesn’t go far enough to ensure that Victorian children and young people don’t have to choose between homelessness or living with violence. Insufficient investment in family violence responses risk undoing the progress made in transforming and integrating responses to family violence following the Royal Commission.
Child protection and out-of-home care systems often fail to enable thriving childhoods – and instead criminalise children and young people for this system failure.
CREATE Foundation strongly advocates for a more sophisticated model of care and response to children and young people in care who use violence and those whose exposure to violence and harm has not been treated with supports and pathways to healing, and who instead are targeted for exploitation and abuse. Government continues to criminalise children for its own system failure to support healthy development, healing and growth after removal from situations of violence, neglect and harm. The modest investment in early intervention, diversion for children is overshadowed by the substantial investment in prisons. With a more contemporary and robust approach there is opportunity for Victoria to continue on the path of evidence-based responses to reduce over-representation of children in its care engaged with criminal justice system.
Responding to trauma and mental health will change our lives and our futures.
Children and young people in care talk with insight and sophistication about their own trauma and what this means for their childhoods. They have told CREATE that ‘We already got trauma. Any little things can become more traumatic and I think that young people need to be listened to a little bit more and acted upon…’ ‘They need an adult to advocate for them. I mean you’ve got to think you’re talking to traumatised children’.
CREATE Foundation welcomes the additional funding to enhance health and mental health services, through Hospital Outreach Post-Suicidal Engagement program, LGBTIQA+ Aftercare support, Strong Brother Strong Sister and Yarning Safe N Strong for Aboriginal Victorians. As well as the network of Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals, which provides free mental health care without a referral or Medicare card. However, with all of these measures, access for children and young people in care is limited.
However, the need is immense, and the services are not available for children in care in a timely way. Children and young people in care have told CREATE that ‘Disproportionate amount of people in care suffer from health conditions because of their trauma’.
CREATE remains concerned that the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Mental Health are not yet fully funded or implemented. There is not a clear pathway for children and young people in care to receive the mental health and treatment for trauma they need to heal and thrive.
Learning and community participation is at the heart of a thriving childhood.
CREATE Foundation supports investment that focuses on keeping children and young people engaged in education, and the efforts to address disrupted education. Children in care often identify that the child protection system itself, particularly residential care, is the barrier which prevents them from participating in school and other activities in the way they want to.
Children and young people in care have told CREATE that when connection is there ‘Inclusion looks like friendly, caring, enthusiastic – makes me feel good and happy.’
CREATE Foundation supports additional disability and inclusion practices for government schools, to ensure that the children and young people in care and with disabilities are not excluded from the benefits of a full and engaging education.
Children and young people in care have told CREATE that ‘we really want to learn and be a part of the school environment, but we are struggling. This can look like anger, chosing not to engage, or being really unfocused, but it’s actually that we are feeling unsafe and distressed’.
CREATE Foundation hopes that the funding to support accessible and free transport, disability and inclusion supports in public schools, and funding for school participation is delivered in a way that benefits children in care so that they don’t continue to miss out on these opportunities for growth, development and fun with friends. Free transport for children under 18 can significantly support connection and participation in school, recreation, social and community activities for children in care – who have previously missed out due to transport costs and logistical barriers.
Exiting care into poverty is a reality for many young people who have been raised by the Victorian government.
Funding for Community Food Relief Programs will help ease hunger for the number of young people leaving care into poverty. The boost in funding for youth programs will be central to supporting connection, recreation, mentoring and harm reduction initiatives – and will provide vital protective activities for children involved with child protection who are targeted for exploitation.
The Victorian government plays the role of parent and carer of every single child and young person who is removed from their families through the child protection system. Children and young people have told CREATE that within this system, ‘We want adults to recognise our potential and dream big for us, so we can’. While this budget has some good news, it doesn’t provide the comprehensive frame to ensure that children being raised in the care of government have the best and brightest futures. CREATE will partner with Victoria to ensure that the voices of children and young people in care continue to influence policy, program and investment decisions across all portfolios that shape their lives.
