Petition for Systemic Reform in Out-of-Home Care and Lifelong Post-Care Support

Break the Cycle. Reform the System.

Care should mean protection — not a pipeline to poverty, trauma, or lifelong disadvantage.

Every year, thousands of young people transition from state care into adulthood without the safety, structure, or support needed to succeed. Despite being wards of the state, they are routinely left to navigate housing, employment, trauma, and relationships alone — often with devastating consequences.

You don’t age out of trauma — so why should you age out of support?

 

What’s Really Happening:

 

Across Victoria:

Over 12,000 children are in out-of-home care at any time.

More than 35% of care leavers experience homelessness within their first year after turning 18.

Nearly 70% of young people in youth justice have a history of out-of-home care.

Up to 50% are disengaged from education or employment after exiting care.

Many end up cycling between services — crisis accommodation, child protection, mental health, justice — in patterns known as resystemisation.

 

This isn’t just a failure of child protection. It’s a failure of whole-of-life support.

 

A System That Teaches You That You’re Nothing

 

Young people in care are often conditioned to expect instability. They’re frequently denied consistent relationships, stable education, or a sense of belonging.

Many internalise the belief that they are “problems” to be managed, not people with potential. As a result, they miss crucial developmental opportunities — not due to lack of capacity, but lack of support.

 

This leads to:

Settling for survival work or relationships— just getting by.

Avoiding further education due to early discouragement or a lack of foundational literacy.

Repeat engagement with systems that were meant to help — creating lifelong dependency at a much larger cost than if anyone just listened earlier.

 

We Call for Real Reform — With Purpose and Impact

1. Lifelong, Needs-Based Support — Not Age-Limited Exit Plans

End arbitrary cut-offs at 18 or 21.

Establish rolling supports that follow the individual, not the calendar.

Ensure access to mental health, housing, advocacy, and education pathways for life.

 

2. Economic Justice Through Opportunity Pathways

Introduce bridging programs for care leavers aged 18–30, focused on:

Long-term employment preparation,

Industry mentoring,

Purposeful, flexible job placements aligned to personal interests.

Recognise that investing early in career confidence reduces long-term service dependency.

> Every $1 spent on early care-leaver employment engagement saves up to $5 in future justice, welfare, and crisis housing costs.

 

3. Rollover and Reinvestment of Departmental Surpluses

Allow unspent state care budgets, emergency housing, and program allocations to roll over into care-leaver services, rather than being forfeited.

Create flexible funds to meet urgent post-care needs without bureaucratic delays — e.g. rental bonds, laptops for study, or therapy continuity.

 

4. Trauma-Informed Access to Records & Identity Support

Provide a plain-language summary of care history upon request — no retraumatising red tape.

Ensure all care leavers can access their records with minimal redactions.

Recognise the identity crisis caused by withheld histories and facilitate gentle, guided support in record review.

 

5. Stable, Long-Term Mental Health Access

End short-term or rotating therapeutic support contracts.

Offer continuity of care with psychologists trained in trauma and care-specific issues.

Expand culturally safe, neurodiverse-aware, and identity-affirming support.

 

6. Whole-of-Government Response to Re-Entrenched Harm

Implement a statewide care leaver outcomes strategy across housing, justice, education, health, and employment.

Train all frontline government workers in trauma-informed engagement with care leavers.

Include lived experience representation in all decision-making, oversight, and accountability bodies.

 

This Isn’t Just Personal — It’s Economic and Social Urgency

The cost of inaction is billions in repeat system use, preventable trauma, and lost potential.

More than 40% of homelessness service clients have state care experience.

Reconnecting care-leavers to purpose and participation reduces suicide risk, incarceration, and long-term Centrelink dependency.

It’s not just a matter of justice — it’s one of public benefit.

 

Our Demands:

We call on the Victorian Government to:

A. Legislate lifelong, needs-based support for care leavers, removing age as a barrier.

B. Rollover unused departmental funds into flexible post-care programs.

C. Invest in job pathways, bridging opportunities and vocational hope, especially for those discouraged early from education.

D. Stop retraumatisation in record access and embed lived experience in every reform space.

E. End the cycle of resystemisation — by supporting people before they spiral back into crisis.

F. Include care-leaver voices at every table where policies about us are made.

 

Care Should Mean More Than Survival

 

This petition calls for a standard where:

Care leads to healing — not harm.

Exit from the system doesn’t mean exit from support.

Survivors are seen as future leaders, not just past problems.

Government is held accountable for lifelong outcomes, not just quarterly targets.

 

✍️ Add Your Name! Show support and be the village so many others need.

 

We call on the Victorian Government to commit to bold, compassionate, and survivor-led reform of care-leaver policy — to end cycles of harm, reinvest in potential, and truly break the cycle.