Supporting children and young people in care

Supporting children and young people in care arrangements involves providing them with stability, security, and continuity in their relationships and living situation, alongside trauma-informed, culturally safe, and person-centered support. Key areas of support include fostering healthy relationships, encouraging education and skill development, and facilitating meaningful participation in decisions that affect them. 

Participation

The Child Protection Act 1999, section 5E sets out principles for participation of children when Child Safety is exercising a power or making a decision.

The participation of children is enhanced by ensuring they have age-appropriate help to:

• make sense of events in their lives
• understand what is happening
• make informed decisions around what may happen in the future
• meaningfully participate in the decision-making process
• maintain written documents about important events in their lives (Cashmore et al.).

To increase the involvement of children and young people in decisions about their care arrangement, it is important to continue to keep them informed through case work activities and include them in major decision-making processes.

Research has produced different findings with regard to children being informed and having an opportunity to participate in decisions about their lives (Heyes et al.).

Some children in care felt that they were rarely consulted and that their views, if they had an opportunity to express them, were not acted on (McDowall (b)). 

However, the CREATE Foundation reported that two thirds of children surveyed felt that they were able to contribute to decisions about their lives ‘reasonably often’ (McDowall (c) mostly about their education and family contact and least about care arrangement decisions. A supportive relationship with a caseworker was a major factor enhancing engagement in decision-making. The Create foundation report further identifies the need to provide support to children to facilitate their engagement in case planning meetings to avoid the experience becoming aversive and counterproductive (McDowall (c)).

Social and emotional development

The social and emotional trajectory of children in a caring and nurturing environment is different from the trajectory for children and young people who have experienced harm. This highlights the needs for developmentally responsive interactions.

The following diagram shows the social and emotional development of children and young people without trauma. When trauma has been experienced, this trajectory may slow down, hit roadblocks, regress or accelerate in areas.

(Department of Child Safety, Youth and Woman (b))

Infants have limited ability to emotionally self-regulate. This skill is learnt through the caring interaction between parent and child as the child continues to develop through the trajectory.

Primary school-aged children, from about 10 years of age, have a sophisticated repertoire of techniques for regulating their emotions (Department of Child Safety, Youth and Woman (a)).

These children manage their emotions using two general strategies: problem-centred coping and emotion-centred coping. 

They can do this because they have greater cognitive ability and a wider range of social experiences on which to draw.

Children develop emotional self-efficacy, defined as a ‘feeling of being in control of emotional experiences’ (Department of Child Safety, Youth and Woman (a)) and learn ‘emotional display rules’—that is when, where and how to express emotions.

Children learn about how to express negative emotions by interacting with parents, teachers and peers. Although the demonstration of emotion is culturally influenced, the capacity is acquired by most children. This enables them to develop empathy and the enhanced social skills needed to engage in reciprocal relationships.

In adolescence young people undergo another burst of brain development, especially in cognitive and social/emotional capacities. Cared-for young people acquire what is known as ‘executive functioning abilities’, including higher-order decision making, planning and judgement.

Young people also focus strongly on peer relations, especially on friendships, peer acceptance, dating, peer pressure and conformity. This sets them up for later developmental milestones of partnering, participation in the workforce and becoming parents.

The importance of stability in care arrangements

All children in care require a stable, supportive care arrangement that meets their needs—not just those placed on long-term child protection orders. One of the ways to contribute to the overall stability of the care arrangement is by including children in decisions about where they will live and keeping them informed. (Refer to Participation.)

Care arrangement changes often disrupt connection with parents, siblings, extended family, school and other significant people in the child’s life. Such disruptions can substantially reduce the likelihood of successful reunification with parents, which is the primary permanency goal in most cases. It may also lead to difficulties in developing a sense of self, impacting on all domains of a child’s life.

Surveys conducted by the AIHW and the CREATE Foundation show the vast majority of children in care feel safe and secure in their care arrangement, the research shows children face many challenges, including multiple changes in care arrangements and limited preparation for making the transition to adulthood. (Heyes et al.)

Child Safety’s annual My Life in Care survey, provides some insights into the views and experiences of young people with current lived care experiences. In the 2024 survey, 86% of young people aged 10 to 18 years who completed the survey, said that they always or most times felt safe and secure about their current care arrangement. For 44% of respondents who moved care arrangements in the preceding 12 month period, 48% were happy to have moved.

The three phases of a care arrangement

There are 3 distinct phases that a child may pass through with each care arrangement they have. You can adopt the following ideas and techniques in your day-to-day work with children in care in each phase of their journey in care.

Beginning a care arrangement

• Share as much information as possible about the care arrangement with the child including the carer’s profile, photos of the house and where the carer lives.
• Have the child contribute to their referral for a care arrangement, completing their own profile and choosing a picture to use.
• Work through any of the child’s worries about the care arrangement.
• Have plans in place for contact between the child and parents, so they know when and where they will see their parents next.
• Make sure the child has a suitcase and overnight bag to use when attending sleepovers with friends, short breaks, camps, or family visits.
• Complete a belongings list and ensure all belongings accompany the child.
• Stay with the child for a period of time when you first arrive at their new care arrangement to help them begin to feel comfortable in the care arrangement.
• Visit the child the following day to see how their first night was.

Continuing a care arrangement

• Continue to build and maintain your relationship with the child, while respecting the child’s privacy
• Learn about the child’s culture and show interest in their culture during visits.
• Be flexible, responsive and work together with the child’s safety and support network
• Conduct regular and meaningful home visits with the child - consider spending time on your own, or offsite to increase privacy and hold discreet conversations.
• Support an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child to have an independent person help facilitate their participation in decision making.
• Keep the child informed about the things that affect them using their preferred method - texts, email, phone calls, kicbox - help them download the kicbox app on their smart device and set up their profile.
• Seek the child’s views and allow them to participate in decision making processes  relating to them in an age-appropriate way, and involve them through the method they prefer, for example, instant messaging, Facetime, or their attendance in person at the placement meeting.  
• Provide the child with formal, written letters, as required by legislation, and read and discuss them together.
• Have the child attend placement meetings and family group meetings, if age and developmentally appropriate.
• Use practice tools to engage the child and think of creative ways to tailor them to the child’s interests.
• Gain knowledge of young people’s slang and the meaning of words they frequently use.
• Action requests for approvals, referrals and consents quickly, for example, child-related cost reimbursements or high risk activities. 
• Be proactive in developing and implementing processes that support the child and the care arrangement, such as the case plan, the placement agreement, education support plan, or an Evolve referral, if applicable.
• Update the child’s belonging list regularly with them.
• From age 15, help a young person with their transition to adulthood plan to identify tasks and goals to focus on.

Exiting a care arrangement

• Talk to the child about what is going to happen next, for example, information about the new care arrangement. 
• Share and celebrate achievements the child has made during the care arrangement with the carer family.
• Talk with the child about what mementos could be gathered to keep as memories to add to the child's life story.
• Provide opportunities for the child to say their goodbyes to the carer, carer family members and other important people in their life as part of the care arrangement.
• Review the child’s belongings list and ensure all belongings are packed and moved to either the next care arrangement, or with them if they return home.
• Provide information as to when the child may see the carers again, if appropriate.

Engaging children and young people

To work as a practitioner with children and young people in care, you must have strong engagement skills with children to help identify, understand and respond to the child’s safety, belonging, and wellbeing needs.

A vital component in the development and wellbeing of all children is having enduring relationships with safe and supportive adults. As a practitioner, you are a key adult in that child’s life. There are 6 key elements that need to be considered when working with children in care:

Building rapport with children and young people
Your ability to build rapport is affected by a range of factors, including:

• the child’s chronological and developmental age
• cultural factors
• whether the child has a disability
• the child's perception of the purpose of the communication
• the child’s current situation—hunger, frustration, tiredness, recent trauma and separation
• the physical environment
• your relationship and how you communicate with the child.

Developing trust
When building rapport with a child, it is important to show them that you can be trusted. For children, trust is about being consistent and not just saying the right thing but also demonstrating that you can do the right thing. If you tell a child that you will telephone them, then you need to follow through. Never make promises that you cannot keep.

When building trust, be clear about boundaries where trust cannot be maintained. Children should be informed when you are unable to keep information, they provide to you secret. For example, a child must understand that you cannot keep a ‘secret’, such as when the child discloses harm, abuse or neglect that has occurred to them or others, including any indications of suicidal thoughts. It is also necessary to disclose any information that is given pertaining to a criminal offence.

Working in an age-appropriate way
Many children coming into contact with the child protection system have learning or disabilities that may inhibit their ability to absorb, process, analyse and retain information. They may be streetwise but also may be immature.

Most children have a shorter attention span than adults and cannot concentrate or sit still for long periods. The following points may assist in guiding the participation of children in care:

• provide children with written material in person and after you have discussed its content and what it means
• children will need to know why they are receiving the material and what they should do with the document - many may not be interested in the document, or will be angry and aggressive towards you if the document contains information they don’t like
• for young children, use pictures or illustrations
• use a variety of mediums to disseminate information, not just written information
• ask a child’s carer or parents, teacher, or community partner to assist in providing the information
• develop resources such as board games or cue cards to engage young children
• no matter what age the child is, avoid the use of jargon - instead, use simple, short sentences and everyday words.

Be mindful to consider gender when meeting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. For instance, it may not be appropriate for a male practitioner to meet with a young Aboriginal girl to discuss topics of a sexual nature. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to ask the family in what circumstances the gender of workers would need to be considered.  

For discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the child may request a home visit away from the house, so community members don’t see a government vehicle parked in front of the house. Don’t be afraid to be creative and yarn (talk) with the child out of town by the river. 

Resources for engagement

It is important to remind young people of the skills they have to address problems and to celebrate their strengths. The Children and Young People as Decision-makers: Encouraging Participation in Out-of-Home Care resource by CREATE Foundation has information to help engagement with young people. 

Sesame workshop

The Sesame Workshop website has some great resources you can use to help engage and communicate with young children in an age-appropriate and interactive way. 

Working with young people in care arrangements

Care arrangements for young people are different to those for children due to the developmental changes young people go through and the additional needs they have.

Practitioners are challenged every day by how to engage and work with young people who have been harmed and traumatised by adults. The impacts of this trauma may be displayed through a young person hurting themselves or others. This makes working with them that bit harder.

Iannos et al. outline the following motivational interviewing techniques as helpful strategies for encouraging change in young people. Overall, conversations need to be respectful of the young person’s ability, be inspiring, and focused on solutions:

• avoid argument - confrontation is unhelpful to change and is likely to increase resistance
• express empathy - warmth and genuineness can facilitate engagement and build rapport
• support self-efficacy - build confidence that change is possible
• work with resistance - arguing, interrupting, negating and ignoring are signs a client is resistant to change so try to avoid confrontation and find another way to connect
• develop discrepancy - generate inconsistency between how the client sees their current situation and how they would like it to be - this strategy is based on the notion that internal inconsistency or ambivalence is a cause of human discomfort and that discomfort motivates change.

Many young people may experience a residential care arrangement during their time in care. Despite residentials having youth workers rostered on shifts rather than parent figure carers, the key to residential care is the same as family-based care—relationships, as indicated in quotes below:

‘Providing a stable and responsive environment of relationships for high-risk young people with consistent, nurturing and protective interactions with adults may enhance their learning and help them develop adaptive capacities that promote well-regulated stress-response systems’.

(Dr Jack Schonkoff, Harvard University, Department of Child Safety, Youth and Woman (b))

‘’Relationships that provide a sense of security, stability, continuity and social support are strong predictors of better outcomes for young people’s long-term outcomes’ 

(Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2007, cited in Department of Child Safety, Youth and Woman (b)).

Young people today are facing challenges that previous generations either did not face, such as the growing world of technology, climate change and sustainable living, limited employment opportunities for those without qualifications, information technology, and sexual and gender diversity. 

When working with young people, awareness and understanding of these topics is needed to be able to work with young people through their experiences.

Sexually and gender diverse young people

Young people coming into care may be unsure of their sexuality or experience fluid sexuality. Allow a young person to describe or express their sexuality when and to whom they want. Take care to not force a young person to share information with you that they are not comfortable sharing.

For some young people, how they define their gender does not necessarily correlate with the physical features they are born with or their sex assigned at birth. For these young people, a lack of understanding or acceptance of difference can lead to discrimination which compounds the trauma experience they may have experienced prior to, and while in care (headspace).

These young people can be impacted by feelings of difference, pressure to name or deny who they are, being rejected or isolated, feeling unsupported or worried, transphobic bullying, and feeling stressed and pressured to conform with the sex assigned at birth.

These experiences may impact the young person’s wellbeing and vulnerability, along with the additional stress they may face as a young person in care. Challenges within their care arrangement, with family contact, if they are reunifying with their family, with school or jobs and relationship building all impact on how they make sense of who they are and how they fit in the world around them.

Information technology

Young people ‘…have the right to say what they think should happen when adults are making decisions that affect them and to have their opinions taken into account’. (Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.)

The way we engage with young people needs to take into account additional ways of communicating, for example through the use of digital devices. To inform your approach to building and maintaining relationships with young people, consider the following:

• the digital world is constant, fast and accessible, often through mobile devices
• access to social media influences the way we connect with others
• communication is often visual—there are a range of global search engines which facilitate access to video content about pretty much anything
• cyberbullying and child sexual exploitation is enabled through the use of mobile apps.

(McCrindle Research Pty Ltd)

It is important to be aware of these factors as they help us to know more about effective ways to engage a young person in care, and they highlight the safety concerns for young people in the connected, global, technological world. For young people in care, ensuring there is a strong safety and support network can mitigate some of these risks and help in the development of meaningful safety plans, decisions about care arrangements and ongoing support for the care arrangement.

A collaborative approach to planning and managing transitions, where young people are at the centre of the decision-making process, is more likely to result in successful outcomes.
 

Transition to adulthood

For information about a young person’s transition to adulthood, refer to the practice kit Transition to adulthood.