young people Archives - Page 3 of 14 - The Burdekin Association

Foster Care and Kinship Week 2023

September 12, 2023

“More than 100 vulnerable children and young people are living in alternative emergency housing, such as hotels and motels, as the child protection system faces a dire shortage of Foster Carers,” reported Amber Schultz in The Sun Herald on September 10, 2023, the start of Foster Care and Kinship Week.

According to the report in the Herald, “There are around 15,000 children and young people in the NSW child protection system. The shortage of Foster Carers has resulted in an increasing number of children being housed in residential care.”

The Department of Communities and Justice estimates that an extra 600 Foster Carers are needed a year to take care of children who cannot live safely at home.

NSW Minister for Families and Communities, Kate Washington has used Foster Care and Kinship Week to make an urgent plea for more parents to sign up as Foster Carers.

“Each year, 600 new Foster Carers are needed in NSW to take care of children who can’t live safely at home. Carers can be family members or foster carers, and come from a diverse range of backgrounds and all walks of life.

All carers receive training, support and an allowance to help them throughout their care journey.”
Kate Washington, NSW Minister for Families and Communities.

Learn about becoming a Foster Carer here

The Burdekin Association hosted a stall at the Addison Road Community Markets in Marrickville on Sunday September 10, 2023 to discuss volunteering and foster caring opportunities at The Burdekin Association.

“The Burdekin Association loves to be a part of the local community. We want to partner with people who would like to understand the work that The Burdekin Association does with young people aged between 9 and 24. We believe that people in the community generally wish to help young people who haven’t had the best start in life – to have an opportunity to develop their skills and their confidence. The Burdekin Association provides that opportunity for the right people,” said Jill Wrathal Strategic Projects / Volunteer Manager with The Burdekin Association.

“Being Foster Care and Kinship Week, The Burdekin Association is looking for Foster Carers who have the right attributes, who love teenagers, and who are also very patient.”
Jill Wrathall, Strategic Projects / Volunteer Manager with The Burdekin Association.

The Burdekin Association provides free accommodation to Foster Carers. We rent houses all around Sydney in locations that are mutually agreed. As a Foster Carer, once you have received the training and been assessed as suitable, we are able to match you with a young person and provide a house for you in a location that meets both the needs of the young person and of you and your family situation.

“Foster Carers provide the ideal environment for a young person to thrive in. Foster Carers can be people at all different stages of life – we can have people in their 20’s, people in their 70’s. What they provide is a stable, consistent, loving home environment for a young person who has experienced not so many good things in their life. Often there has been trauma, abuse, neglect and these young people need to be given a stable, consistent home environment where they have their own bedroom, feel safe, and where the Foster Carer provides a consistent framework of support for them and they can engage with education and work opportunities as any child growing up in a family would want to do.”
Jill Wrathall, Strategic Projects / Volunteer Manager with The Burdekin Association.

Foster caring isn’t easy, but for the right people, it can be so rewarding to make a difference in the life of a young person. That’s why The Burdekin Association has its volunteering program. It’s a gentle entry point, with some volunteers going on to become Foster Carers.

Some ways that people in the community can volunteer as mentors to young people, is by helping them with:

Their education
Obtaining a driver’s licence
Learner driving supervision
Learning to cook
Learning to catch public transport
Developing their skills and their confidence

Take the quiz to see if you can become a Foster Carer

Professor Brian Burdekin on ABC Radio National

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023

Click here to listen to the radio interview.

The Burdekin Association’s Patron and Australia’s first Federal Human Rights Commissioner, Professor Brian Burdekin AO spent over 30 years advocating for the needs of children – those with disabilities and mental illness.

He led two landmark reports: ‘National Inquiry into Youth Homelessness’ in 1989 and ‘Human Rights and Mental Illness’ in 1993.

And, he delivered the opening address at the recent National Youth Homelessness Conference held in July 2023 in Melbourne.

He recently spoke with Andy Park, Presenter of the Drawing Room on Radio National about youth homelessness.

Key highlights of the radio interview:

More than 40,000 young Australians spend each night without a home, and 18,000 of these are under the age of 12 (according to the most recent official Australian Census estimates).
Professor Burdekin’s mother’s career had a dramatic influence on him and his ambitions for advocating for children with disabilities. He witnessed first-hand her experience of raising five children, attending university and being a teacher of students with disabilities.
He realised that as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Australia still (in the mid 1980’s) had systemic discrimination against the hundreds of thousands of children who lived with disabilities and also people with mental illnesses.
He was named as Australia’s first Federal Human Rights Commissioner in 1986 and described Australians’ knowledge of human rights in Australia at the time as “being appalling”. He advised that 95 per cent of Australians at the time didn’t know what human rights were about, as the government had done “nothing about informing the general public that international treaties had been signed and were binding in international law in relation to the conventions on elimination of discrimination against women and the elimination of racial discrimination.”
He deplored the fact that Australia was the only country of 65 common law countries that did not have a Bill of Rights in their Constitution or federal legislation.

“My advice to the Federal Government (to ensure that children and young people aren’t overlooked) is to have a national housing plan, to put more money into social housing, and to develop a specific holistic plan for homeless children and young people, as their pathways into homelessness are often different. The holistic plan should include life skills training, opportunities for education and housing.”
Professor Burdekin AO, Patron of The Burdekin Association

Further key highlights of the radio interview:

He went on to advise that The Burdekin Association is looking after a rapidly increasing number of homeless children – children that don’t have any adult to care for them or to protect them.
Australia has almost the lowest rate of social housing in the world – only 3.9 per cent of available housing stock.
He stated that 122,000 Australians are currently homeless, of which 18,000 people are under the age of 12, and that early intervention and prevention – assisting families that are in trouble, that are stressed out, that can’t make ends meet – is more cost effective as well as more appropriate for protecting human rights.
Following the ‘National Inquiry into Youth Homelessness’, Professor Burdekin bought an apartment block of eight units in Forster Tuncurry, on the NSW North Coast, and worked with the Mayor of Taree and the St Vincent De Paul Society, to look after and house homeless young people and children. During the time, he learnt the necessity of keeping young people in their local area, that private businesses are often willing to help financially, and the importance of keeping children in touch with their community.
He emphasized that 84 per cent of children currently being assisted by The Burdekin Association have mental health problems and many homeless children have undiagnosed mental health problems.

Causes of youth homelessness – mental health

July 21, 2023July 17, 2023

The Burdekin Association - prevention and early intervention

There are many causes of youth homelessness including family breakdown and bereavement. The top three causes of youth homelessness are generally considered to be:

Family and domestic violence
Housing crisis
Relationship/family breakdown

There are multiple others causes which are often correlative. They happen together or one causes the other or they’re bi-directional.

Exiting out-of-home care
Mental illness
Trauma – such as abuse, addiction or neglect
Addiction
Lack of housing
Unemployment

In the case of mental health, there are strong links between homelessness and the exacerbation of mental health issues, additionally mental illness can also increase the risk of homelessness.

The Mission Australia Youth Survey 2022 found:

27.7% said mental health challenges including: low mental health, stress, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem or self-harm.
19.7% said relationship challenges, death, abuse, challenging relationships with family, friends or significant others.
28.8% had high psychological distress, 23.5% felt lonely all or most of the time, 44.0% were extremely or very concerned about coping with stress. Males had higher levels of self-reported wellbeing, followed by females with gender diverse young people having the lowest at just 12.5%.
53.4% have needed help with mental health challenges, with the top barrier to seeking help being feeling stigma or shame. Read more.

I could talk to my parents about it but I am afraid of how they will react. Female, 15 VIC

Youth support services Inner West Sydney

Youth homelessness and mental health

Young people who experience homelessness are more likely to experience mental ill-health than those in stable housing.

It has been estimated that the prevalence of mental ill-health is at least 300 to 400 per cent higher among people experiencing homelessness when compared to people in stable housing.
Oyrgen’s Youth Homelessness and Mental Health report

In addition to the increased prevalence of mental ill-health among young people experiencing homelessness, it has also been shown that homelessness can increase the severity of mental ill-health. Research has found elevated levels of psychosis, anxiety, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and alcohol and other drug use among people who are homeless.(31) As many as 90 per cent of young people experiencing homelessness have been estimated to meet criteria for diagnosis of at least one mental disorder.(32) Young people experiencing homelessness are also at elevated risk for suicidal ideation (40 to 80 per cent) and suicide attempts (23 to 67 per cent).
Oyrgen’s Youth Homelessness and Mental Health report

What is needed?

We understand far more than we ever did before about mental health and illness. Help is available but we still have a way to go to address both youth homelessness and youth mental health.

We need:

Low cost housing
Prevention and early intervention
Outreach and support
Effective programs

Further help:

In an emergency, call 000

Lifeline: 13 11 14
Kids Help Line (5–25 years): 1800 55 1800
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
Beyond Blue: 1800 512 348
MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978
headspace

National Homelessness Week 2023

July 19, 2023July 12, 2023

It’s time again for National Homelessness Week, the annual event to raise awareness of homelessness in Australia. This year it is held from Monday 7th to Sunday 13th August with the theme – ‘It’s time to end homelessness’… We couldn’t agree more, it is high time to end homelessness and put the right measures in place to prevent it from here on.

Homelessness Week is an important opportunity to advocate for positive social change. National and local community events, media and social media activities are all taking this opportunity. Check Homelessness Australia for the latest updates including the launch of Homelessness Week 2023 focussed on the solutions needed to end First Nations homelessness.

People experiencing or at risk of homelessness face an acute housing shortage, a cost of living crisis and a rental crisis. They may also be facing the end to their out-of-home care, family violence and/or trauma (abuse/neglect), physical or mental illness, addiction, job loss and/or disability. We hear (and say) – everyone deserves a home, that it is a basic human right but so many are going without. We are seeing families and young people in crisis.

What can you do to help?

Raising awareness is good – you can do this by sharing our work on socials (see links below), have conversations with people about the issue, advocate for change – help to bring in legislation and policy change by using your vote and writing to your local MP. Sign and share this petition.

Treat your fellow humans with dignity – we have, in a way, forgotten how to look out for each other. Check on your neighbours, ask if they’re ok, if you see someone struggling help them, pay it forward, try not to judge the person next to you. Above all, organisations need funds, we can only do as much as we can by stretching every dollar.

We have an active group of supporters who help us to go the extra mile and offer wrap around services to young people beyond a safe and secure home. The need for our services has grown. We have expanded rapidly in a short period of time. While we have grown, we are providing the same level of personal care as previously, the type of care we have become known for.

Visit our community fundraising page to find lots of ideas of how you can help us secure a future for children and young people – because everyone deserves to live life to their full potential! If you would like to know ways to donate to Burdekin please visit our donation page. You might also like to consider fostering a teen or volunteering with us – however you help is always appreciated.

Home Stretch Make it 21 Campaign Update

June 22, 2023

The Home Stretch advocacy began in 2016 when 160 organisations joined forces to lobby for significant reforms for young people in out-of-home care.

At the end of 2022 the NSW government announced universal extended care to 21 years for young people in State Care from February 2023. The announcement means that every state and territory government in Australia agreed to provide vulnerable young people in foster care with support to the age of 21 years. At the time our CEO, Justene Gordon, said:

‘We thank all the young people, those with lived experience and others, who championed this effort. Ensuring young people in care have a fair, equitable, robust and real opportunity for all that life brings is what we all strive for’.

Since reform

States and Territories began to legislate reform to foster care to implement the age change.
Advocates say, the changes are too slow and much more needs to be done.

Talking about it recently in the media the Chair of the Home Stretch coalition, Paul McDonald said:

There is still a lot of work to be done. Supports for young people differ between states and they continue to have problems accessing housing. It’s time for the Australian Government to step up and help with this.”

Mr. McDonald also calls for a push for increased housing and social support for young people transitioning out of foster care.

There are also reports that the rising cost of living is exacerbating the foster carer shortage as providing care and support is getting more difficult because of the rising cost of living.

National Youth Homelessness Conference

The next National Youth Homelessness Conference takes place 24-25th July and will focus on child and youth homelessness. Organisers say, it is time that the Australian government committed to developing a national plan to address child and youth homelessness. This conference will mobilise a collective commitment to developing a joint government-NGO strategy to address child and youth homelessness nationally.

We are delighted that our Patron, Prof. Brian Burdekin AO, will deliver the opening address and our CEO, Justene Gordon, will also present at the conference.