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Become a Foster Carer

How we support our
young people leaving care

“Connecting young people back to where they come from is a vital part of our work. 

Yorganop has a cultural unit that works toward ensuring that all our children and young people are connected to family… They know who they are, and who they come from and we connect them up. That is a vital part for young people who have been in care.”

– Dawn Wallam

Yorganop Home Stretch provides young people leaving Out of Home Care in Western Australia with the option to continue to receive support up until the age of 21.

Our young people are matched with their own dedicated coach. Our Transition Coaches stand alongside a young person while they build the lives that they want.

 The elements of the Home Stretch program that will help to support young people include:

  • One-on-one individualised, trauma-informed, and culturally safe coaching and mentoring for young people.
  • Strengthening an understanding of, and connection to, culture and kinship networks, including family finding and mapping.
  • Assistance in finding accommodation and accessing employment, training and education opportunities.
  • Assistance in participating in life skill development activities.

Safety Net

Transition Coach

Young people are supported by a Transition Coach, a skilled and experienced worker who provides  one-on-one support and access to financial resources regarding housing, health, employment and training, and other needs. The Transition Coach is guided by a set of practice principles focused on building a young person’s self-reliance, skill set, and positive connections to family, community, culture, and Country.

“My role as a Transition Coach is to gently guide a Young Person through the unknown. The unknown of family connections and relationships between bloodlines, with people that could possibly be strangers. Walking beside the young person as they navigate emotions and uncertainty. Understanding that what may arise is natural and could range from joy to fear. Being that person to hold the young person’s hand during this time is a privilege and should always be handled with respect and gentleness.”

– Yorganop Transition Coach

 

 

Support Circles

Creating support networks

Support circles are at the centre of the support provided by Yorganop Home Stretch. Transition Coaches help young people to identify who they would like to have in their lives, explore pathways to build relationships, and also put in place a safety net in case things do not turn out as planned. These may be extended family members, previous carers, siblings, or previous foster siblings.

Transition Coaches offer guidance and resources as young people navigate and develop connections with family, community, culture, and country, when they are ready to make these connections, with the intention of supporting young people to grow and maintain lasting relationships with people and places that are important to them.

“My Home Stretch mentor got me a family tree. It helps a lot as an Indigenous person. It helps you feel more secure about yourself.” – Young Person

Transition

Transition Support:

Transition support is a key element of the Yorganop Home Stretch program. Flexible, one-to-one support focused on building up interdependence.

A Transition Coach provides flexible, one-on-one support to young people to assist them in navigating their road to interdependence once they leave the child protection system.  This includes supporting a young person to identify and build on their strengths, develop an understanding of the kind of life they would like to create for themselves, and following on from that, supporting them in setting and achieving goals along their journey towards creating that life.   Transition coaches assist young people with the basics, such as obtaining identification documentation, finding employment, accessing training, obtaining stable accommodation, connecting with family, and managing difficult relationships.  The key to the success of the Home Stretch WA service, and ‘transition support’ is the relationship between the coach and the young person, and the ability of the transition coach to encourage and work with young people to solve their problems, overcome their challenges and thereby, develop resilience, resourcefulness and essential life and interpersonal skills.

 “I’m so glad to know that he will have support when he turns 18 too… It’s always on my mind… what’s going to happen when he turns 18? How am I going to afford this? I’m so glad that it is happening, it is wonderful news”

– Staying on Carer (Quote from Staying on prototype consultations)

 

 

Funding

Invest in Me:

The Invest in Me funding allows young people to request financial support from their Transition Coach to provide the young person with fast access to financial assistance without having to return to a Department of Communities district office. The funding is focused on supporting young people to build their capacity and skills around their finances. The funding also grants young people access to resources and a financial safety net as they work towards their goals and aspirations or for crisis relief.

Accommodation

Staying on Agreement

The Staying on Agreement supports a young person’s transition to independence. Until the age of 21, young people can remain with a carer in a stable living arrangement. In addition to receiving payments and support from foster and family carers, young people will need to contribute to their living expenses from their independent income. The Home Stretch Staying on Facilitator helps each family create an agreement for what happens after the young person turns 18 years, these payments are administered by the Department of Communities.

Housing Allowance

It is important that young people have choices about where and with whom they live. The housing allowance provides more flexibility than the ‘staying on’ subsidy and can be used to support a wider range of options for young people, including shared or student housing, boarding or lodging arrangements, and living with extended family members.

A young person can access the same amount of funding available to carers participating in a Staying on Agreement, in the form of the housing allowance.  In order to apply, the young person must create a budget and payment plan with their transition coach. Payments are made directly to the young person’s landlord or landlord’s agent. The housing allowance and ‘staying on’ subsidy cannot be paid to biological parents.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Young Person

Although we have no housing stock we will support you to develop a housing pathway plan. This may look like referrals to transitional housing first andpossible access to a housing allowance*

Each coach is focused and time spent depends on your needs and goals. And has the flexibility to work with you wherever you feel comfortable. We will aim to reach out to you as much as you need depending on your gaols, this might need like atext every fortnight or meeting you weekly with appointments.

Yes! This person may not be your primary coach. We have strong Aboriginal people in our program that can meet and support with you with you on your cultural journey.

Young Person’s Carer

Home Stretch WA Staying On Subsidy will support the living arrangement from when the young person turns 18 until the age of 21. The carer or Young person must inform Home Stretch WA if the young person is no longer living in the agreement to avoid over payment and having to payback any ver payments received.

Absolutely! You will be provided with the facilitators phone number and email address as well as informal catch ups to discuss anything you may require assistance with.

The coach's priority is to support the young person. Your Staying On Facilitator is more than happy to help with any support needs you may require however we are all working together to achieve the best outcomes for the living arrangement and the existing family unit.

A Staying on Facilitator will support you with Informal yarning and debrief space, they will work with you on reflection and review of Staying On Agreement at informal reviews throughout the living arrangement, and with access to resources and referrals to specialised services.

Yorganop Home Stretch

Several eligibility criteria have been established. These include:

  1. The young person turned 18 years old on or after 1 July 2022.
  2. The young person is connected to a Department of Communities district office and there is a Home Stretch WA provider available in the area where the young person lives.
  3. The young person is eligible for leaving care assistance as set out in the Children and Community Services Act 2004 (section 96) –
    1. the person has left the CEO’s care; and
    2. the person is under 25 years of age; and
    3. at any time after the person reached 15 years of age they were:
      1. the subject of a protection order (time limited) or protection order (until 18); or
      2. the subject of a negotiated placement agreement in force for a continuous period of at least six months; or
      3. provided with placement services under section 32(1)(a) of the Act for a continuous period of at least six months.

Learn more

All referrals are to be made by a District Office, either by a young person’s case manager or the relevant leaving care team member.

Learn more about the Home Stretch Referral process

Read the Home Stretch WA Final Report.

This report provides a summary of some of the key learnings and insights that have been captured through a range of different co-design tools and activities used in the Trial. This report also provides a number of key recommendations that have been developed through collaboration with key stakeholders involved in the Trial.

Nurturing our children to flourish

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