Two professionals who work in the foster care space have backed a call for the NSW government to provide support to young people in care beyond the age of 18.
The NSW Home Stretch Campaign wants all young people leaving care to be provided access to extended care arrangements until they are 21 years old, in line with other states around the country.
Wodonga Upper Murray Family Care foster care practitioner Macus Dittko, based in the NSW-Victorian border region, said once Victoria children in care turned 18 they could receive support through the Home Stretch or Better Futures programs until they were 21.
He said the program or similar extended care was "definitely" a good idea for NSW too, but it could also be helpful if a young person's legal guardianship was extended until they were 21 years old.
"Just to provide more stability to the young people moving forward," he said.
"Most young people at the age of 18 really aren't knowing where they want to go in life and still need structured support and you get that in a family environment."
Mr Dittko said his involvement with young people in care effectively ended when they turned 18 and the guardianship ended and they were transitioned to the extended care programs until they were 21.
"But if they were to stay in our care until 21 then I could continue my involvement and then you've just got continuity across the board," he said.
"If you're working with these young people four, five, six, seven years, that's quite a lot of investment (to just stop)."
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Michelle Wayenberg, who works in carer management at UMFC, said her team would also be able to support foster carers for an extra three years if the guardianship age was lifted.
"Whereas if kids fostering stops at 18, then carers can't get that support either," she said.
"Kids that are turning 18 are in their final year of school, there's enough pressure from that already and then with the worry of 'am I going to get kicked out of where I am?' it just spirals."
UMFC currently has about 108 children in care and about 12 of those are nearing ageing out of fostering.
Of those 12, Mr Dittko is a care practitioner for three and is particularly worried for one, who will need to live independently once he is 18.
"I'm definitely concerned, especially since education is not a big strong point of his," he said.
"We're working towards trying to get him work experience currently and then ensuring that we've got a transition into employment, therefore he's able to sustain himself."
Victoria Ellis
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
