Why aren’t all kids having a good childhood - what are we doing doing about it?
A: By providing advocacy, care and support
for children and young people
who cannot live safely at home
foster care for 395 children, a 47% increase on last year, and
47 new carer households were recruited and trained.
We worked intensively with more than 230 young people
helping them gain some control in their lives. Wherever
possible we helped them negotiate better relationships
with their families. We also advocated for them to return
to school, get access to further education, work experience
or employment.
Where there are drug or alcohol issues, our goal is always
to link them to appropriate services. If they need specialist
counselling to deal with sexual assault, we support them to
get to appointments.
Although it usually takes great persistence to earn their
trust, our staff know that adolescence is a window of
opportunity for a better life as an adult.
In our residential care program, our committed staff
provide 24 hour care in houses in the community. The
young people who are placed in residential care have
been assessed as not suitable to be placed with family
or foster care. Because of our expertise in engaging
and working with young people with the most complex
needs, our residential care is often the last hope for some
of the young people.
Over the last year we cared for 184 children and young
people in residential care, an increase of 24%. All of the
increase was through one-off or emergency arrangements,
because the system was, and remains, overloaded.
Of special concern is the fact that 58 of the children were
under 12, when ideally these children should be placed
with family or in foster care.
Despite the very significant challenges in helping these
children and young people deal with their appalling
childhood experiences, most of the young people who
leave our residential care programs do so with a better sense
of self, more connections to education, employment and
community, and an understanding of their family.
A successful transition
Jackie and Lynne were 12 & 13 when they came to
Berry Street. Lynne came from living with her mother
and Jackie’s foster care placement had broken down.
Both girls have a mild intellectual disability and a sad
history of rejection and abuse. Since it was clear that
neither could return home, a key focus of our work
was to increase the girls’ connections to their community
and their social and independent living skills. Lynne
was actively involved in Our Kids Kitchen cooking
program and Jackie had been encouraged to enroll in
a TAFE course.
Lynne and Jackie were keen to leave the residential
unit where they had lived for four years, but at sixteen,
could not have managed on their own. After protracted
negotiation and advocacy, the girls moved into a house
supplied by Rotary. Our staff will continue to support
them until they are able to manage independently.
Berry Street Annual Report 2008
7