New laws to better support youths transitioning from care

The ACT Government will today introduce legislation committing support to young people in out-of-home care beyond the statutory age of 18 years up to 25 years, ACT Minister for Community Services Joy Burch said.

Ms Burch said the proposed amendments to the Children and Young People Act 2008 reflect the $2.07 million over four years allocated in the 2011-12 ACT Budget to provide increased support to young people transitioning from out-of-home care.

"The ACT Labor Government recognises young people leaving care need support in transitioning from out-of-home care to overcome barriers and to achieve positive outcomes in areas such as health, housing, education, employment, relationships and parenting," Ms Burch said.

"These new laws will provide these young people transitioning to adulthood with supports and care that many young people in the community receive from their family, such as linking them to ACT and Commonwealth services and supporting them to undertake further education and training."

Ms Burch said the funding allocation provided for the establishment of a new outreach service - the Youth Support and Transition Team - within the Community Services Directorate to provide the assistance and supports to young people.

"This service will ensure supports are better targeted, provided earlier and lead to improved coordination across service providers."

The legislative changes contain four key elements - transition planning; assistance for young people up until the age of 25; improved financial assistance; improved access for the young people to access protected information about them.

Ms Burch first flagged the possibility of supporting young people beyond 18 in a discussion paper released for public consultation last year, Maximising Potential: improving life transitions for young people in care.