Fostered Youth challenge Paula Bennett not to let Government abandon them at 17

Dingwall Trust Media Release

24 July 2013

A Youth Hui this weekend provides a unique chance to hear from the real “experts” about foster care as a group of youth share with the Minister of Social Development what foster care is like from the inside. This Youth Hui is the culmination of an earlier Youth Fun Day that provided a chance for over 40 foster youth to connect with each other and share their experiences and views about what needs to happen to make foster care a better experience.

One of the key messages of the young people is not to abandon them when they turn 17. In New Zealand custody orders discharge on a young person’s 17th birthday – leaving young people to fend for themselves whilst many are still in secondary school. As Robin Vinod, a presenter at the Youth Hui implores “We need more ongoing support, let us grow up! Let us get to an age where we are mentally and emotionally capable, so that we can understand the world around us.”

The hui is on Saturday 27th July, from 10.00am to 12.00pm at Dingwall Trust, 8 Dingwall Place, Papatoetoe.

Youth Leaders will have the chance to present the feedback from their wider group of peers to the Hon Paula Bennett, along with a range of care and social service providers. Their powerful insights and suggestions for change can help create positive change in the foster care system.

There were 3,885 children and young people in out-of-home care placements as at 30 June 2011. This can be placement with wider family/whanau, a Child Youth and Family(CYF) caregiver, in a CYF Family Home, a Child and Family Support Service, or Residence. The majority of children come into care due to issues of abuse and neglect with their birth families.1

A study by the Office of Children’s Commissioner in 2010 into the quality of care services highlighted that 25.5% of the children interviewed had experienced between 4 – 6 placements and 22.2% had more than 6 placements 2. That’s more than six different homes, different sets of caregivers and house rules to adjust to. Being in care can be an incredibly isolating experience for children, especially when coming into care or moving placements means moving schools and communities as can often be the case. This dislocation from family, community and sometimes culture deepens the vulnerability of this often forgotten group.

‘Voices of Children in Care’ (VOCC) are a group of passionate and committed individuals and organisations with many years experience in the care sector, children’s rights and advocacy. The aim of VOCC is to develop an independent body for children and young people in foster care in Aotearoa. Organisations providing an effective voice for children and young people in care have operated for many years in Australia and most other Western countries, with the intention of helping to advance care policy and practice.

VOCC members have come together as they all passionately believe that children and young people in care deserve an identity, a voice and opportunities to create positive change in the care system.

An independent organisation for children and young people in care would enable connection between those with similar circumstances, reducing the isolation of the care experience; it would enable empowerment through education about rights, avenues for assistance and how to have their say; and it would inform and promote positive change to the care system by hearing from those people living within it.

ENDS

© Scoop Media