Acknowledging the struggle: Policy changes for state care leaving provisions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol28iss2id221Keywords:
care leaving, transition, rights, obligationsAbstract
Neoliberalism is not kind to vulnerable populations. Care leavers as a vulnerable population have faired particularly poorly under successive governments. Policy and practice have maintained a position for decades in New Zealand where care leavers are responsible entirely for their own lives at the age of seventeen. This article reviews current literature, locally and internationally, in order to identify the needs of care leavers in the New Zealand context. It will question what is working already, what works elsewhere and how we might change the outcomes for these young people who have not chosen this path and yet appear to be punished through the government turning a blind eye
References
Atwool, R. (2010). Children in care - a report into the
quality of services provided to children in care. Wellington, N.Z : Office of the Children’s Commissioner.
Barnardos. (2012). Moving On: Aftercare Provision in Ireland. Retrieved from http://www.barnardos.ie/assets/files/Advocacy/2012AftercareSeminar/Barnardos%20and%20PILA%20Aftercare%20Paper%202012.pdf
Beauchamp, T. (2014). A strong future for young people leaving out-of-home care. Paramatta: UnitingCare Children, Young People and Families.
Biehal, N., Clayden, J., Stein, M., & Wade, J. (1995). Moving on: Young people and leaving care schemes: HM Stationery Office.
Buchmann, M. C., & Kriesi, I. (2011). Transition to adulthood in Europe. Annual Review of Sociology, 37, 481-503.
Care of Children Act, New Zealand Statues (2004). Retrieved from http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2004/0090/
latest/DLM317233.html
Cashmore, J., & Paxman, M. (1996). Longitudinal study of wards leaving care. Department of Community Services.
Cheyne, C., O’Brien, M., & Belgrave, M. (1997). Social policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand: a critical introduction, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Child Youth and Family (2014). Towards Independence Policy. Retrieved from http://www.practicecentre.cyf.govt.nz/policy/towards-independence/
Courtney, M. E., Piliavin, I., Grogan-Kaylor, A., & Nesmith, A. (2001). Foster youth transitions to adulthood: A longitudinal view of youth leaving care. Child Welfare, 80, 6, 685-718.
Courtney, M. E., Terao, S., & Bost, N. (2004). Midwest evaluation of the adult functioning of former foster youth: Conditions of youth preparing to leave state care: Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.
Del Quest, A., Fullerton, A., Geenen, S., & Powers, L. (2012). Voices of youth in foster care and special education regarding their educational experiences and transition to adulthood. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(9), 1604-1615.
Dingwall Trust. (2015). Care to Independence. Retrieved from http://www.dingwall.co.nz/what-we-offer/care-toindependence/
Expert Panel. (2015). Modernising Child, Youth and Family, Expert Panel: Interim Report. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Social Development. Retrieved from https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-ourwork/work-programmes/cyf-modernisation/interim-reportexpert-
panel.pdf
Fitzgerald, L., Mortlock, B., Jeffs, L., Hessel, M., Alderslade, L., & Abel, G. (2006). Finding out what we need to know: Developing a participatory research methodology with young people who have exited statutory care and
protection. Christchurch: The Collaborative for Research and Training in Youth Health and Development.
Garrett, P. M. (2010). Examining the ‘Conservative Revolution’: Neoliberalism and Social Work Education. Social Work Education, 29(4), 340-355. doi:10.1080/02615470903009015
Inland Revenue Department (2015). Social Policy. Retrieved from http://www.ird.govt.nz/aboutir/external-stats/socialpolicy/
McDowall, J. J. (2008). Create Report card 2008: transitioning from care. Sydney: CREATE Foundation.
McDowall, J. J. (2009). Create Report card 2009: transitioning from care: tracking progress. Sydney: CREATE Foundation.
Mendes, P. (2009). Young people transitioning from out of-home care: A critical analysis of Australian and international policy and practice. Australian Social Work, 62(3), 388-402.
Mendes, P. (2011). Towards a Community Development Support Model for Young People Transitioning from State Out-of-Home Care: A Case Study of St Luke’s Anglicare in Victoria, Australia. Practice: Social Work in Action, 23(2), 69-81.
Mendes, P. (2012). Examining the health and mental health care needs and experiences of a group of young people transitioning from out of home care in rural Victoria. Communities, Children and Families Australia, 6, 1, 30-42.
The Minimum Wage Act, New Zealand Statues. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1983/0115/latest/DLM74093.html
Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth (2011). My Real Life Book, Report from the Youth Leaving Care Hearings. Ontario, Canada. Retrieved from http://provincialadvocate.on.ca/main/en/hearings/pages/report.html
Office of the Children’s Commissioner (2015), State of Care 2015. Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.occ.org.nz/assets/Publications/OCC-State-of-Care-2015.pdf
Packard, T., Delgado, M., Fellmeth, R., & McCready, K. (2008). A cost–benefit analysis of transitional services for emancipating foster youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 30(11), 1267-1278.
Residential Tenancies Act, New Zealand Statues. (1986). Retrieved from http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/DLM94278.html
Rogers, R. (2015). Taking Responsibility for the Provision of Financial, Housing, and Emotional Support for Young People Leaving Care. Australian Social Work, 68(1), 99-114. doi:10.1080/0312407X.2013.868013
Rutman, D., Hubberstey, C., Feduniw, A., & Brown, E. (2006). When youth age out of care: Bulletin of Time 2 findings: University of Victoria School of Social Work.
Simons, J. A., Irwin, D. B., & Drinnien, B. A. (1987). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from https://www.andrews.edu/~ggifford/EDAL520SU05/Need%20Hierarchy%20Theory.doc
Stein, M. (2006). Young people aging out of care: The poverty of theory. Children and Youth Services Review, 28(4), 422-434.
Stein, M., & Dumaret, A.-C. (2011). The mental health of young people aging out of care and entering adulthood: Exploring the evidence from England and France. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(12), 2504-2511.
Tweddle, A. (2007). Youth leaving care: How do they fare? New directions for youth development, 2007(113), 15-31.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. United
Nations, 1989.
Van Heugten, K. (2011). Registration and social work education: A golden opportunity or a Trojan horse? Journal of Social Work, 11(2), 174-190.
Ward, T. (2000). Happy birthday--goodbye!: a study into the readiness and preparedness for independent living of foster care adolescents facing automatic discharge from the custody of the state upon reaching the age of seventeen years. (Unpublished masters thesis). Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/6891
Williams, C. A. (2011). Mentoring and social skills training: Ensuring better outcomes for youth in foster care. Child Welfare, 90(1), 59-74.
Work and Income (2015). Income rules for Youth Payments and Young Parent Payment. Retrieved from http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/on-a-benefit/tell-us/income/need-to-declare/youth-benefits.html
Yates, D. (2001). Sink or swim: Leaving care in New Zealand. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 155-174 .
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.
You and any co-authors
If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.
First publication
By submitting the work you are:
- granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
- confirming that the work is original; and
- confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.
Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.
Copyright
You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.
The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.
A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.
Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.
This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.
Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.
The copyright of others
If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:
- falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
- that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.