26-29 April, 2022, the Voices in
Action: Resilient, Resourceful, Remarkable conference, will bring together
key decision makers, young people with a lived experience of out-of-home care
and experts from across the globe to find solutions to the toughest problems
within the care sector.
This
fifth biennial Voices
in Action Conference will be opened by His Excellency, General the
Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General of Australia,
followed by a diverse expert speaker program along with creative competitions
for young people attending and fun, interactive creative workshops,
co-facilitated with Life
Without Barriers.
The Voices in Action Conference (ViA) enables a truly global perspective, highlighted
by our geographically dispersed guest speakers, including Canadian resilience
expert, Dr Michael Ungar, Ph.D., Melbournian consultant psychologist, Gregory
Nicolau and Britain’s Caine Wild each sharing their unique insights and
expertise throughout the conference.
Dr Michael Ungar, Ph.D is the founder and Director of the Resilience Research Centre at Dalhousie University, whose ground-breaking work as a family therapist and
resilience researcher achieves international recognition.
Consultant Psychologist and
founder of both The
Australian Childhood Trauma Group and, Ripple mental health app, Gregory Nicolau will share his skills and
expertise conference as both speaker and MC, creating a powerful platform for
attendees to have their say and be heard during the four-day event.
Britain’s, Caine Wild, is
the Company Director and founder of First Step Wild Ltd, who will be sharing a
dynamic presentation of collective insights about growing up in care.
Voices in
Action: Resilient, Resourceful, Remarkable.
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 registrations are now closed. The conference schedule is
available 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
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.
