PRESS RELEASE: RESILIENT, RESOURCEFUL, REMARKABLE – NATIONAL CONNECTION FOR CARE SECTOR COMING UP!

MEDIA ALERT
15 February 2022

SAVE THE DATE – RESILIENT, RESOURCEFUL, REMARKABLE
NATIONAL CONNECTION FOR CARE SECTOR COMING UP!

The count-down is on until the 2022 Voices in Action: Resilient, Resourceful, Remarkable conference, taking place from 26-29th April, 2022. The fifth biennial conference is an established sector platform encouraging collaboration between key decision-makers and those with a lived experience of out-of-home care to find solutions to the toughest problems within the care sector.

A global online gathering, the Voices in Action Conference includes inspiring speakers sharing their wisdom and expertise, including a keynote by Isaiah Dawes, interactive panels and creative workshops and competitions.

The conference schedule will continue being updated, with further speaker announcements and updates. The Voices in Action Conference facilitates a dedicated space for the child protection sector to connect, learn and move towards positive future change.
In Australia alone, over 45,996(1) 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.

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.

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 info & registration 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 [email protected]

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.