Part C: Methodology

Overview

To confirm that the issues identified in Part B of this Report were of current significance for young people, and to give care leavers the opportunity to raise other points they felt worthy of discussion, a series of consultations were conducted. The first tier of consultations utilised CREATE’s Youth Advisory Groups (YAG) as they provide a state- and territory-based forum for young people with a care experience to establish the issues and priorities that must be addressed and resolved if the process of transitioning to independence is to be improved overall. These key priorities then formed the basis of the second tier of consultations involving CREATE’s National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC) in a one-day workshop which culminated in the identification of practical solutions that could be applied by the Commonwealth and/or State and Territory governments, non-government organisations and agencies to effect quality outcomes for young people transitioning from out-of- home care to independence.

Stage 1: Initial Consultations (YAG Focus Groups)

Participants

This consultation targeted only those YAG members who were either preparing to leave care, actually transitioning, or were living independently. The total number involved in the consultation process was 27 representing all states (however, there were no individuals from either territory). Participants were aged between 14 and 23 years (mean age 18.5 years), with the majority being female (n=18). Three identified as Indigenous (Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander) and two identified as having “Other Cultural Background” (Spanish/Italian and Solomon Islander). The remainder of the group were Caucasian Australians. Members had experienced a range of placement types while in care.

Instrument

Five key questions were developed to elicit the priorities that young people with a care experience identified as needing to be addressed to improve the transitioning system. They were asked to discuss: (a) What makes a successful transition? (b) What are the barriers to young people accessing services and supports? (c) Would you prefer to go a specialised service (e.g. an after care service just for young people who’d been in care) or prefer to go to a mainstream service (e.g. a general youth service)? (d) Do you think there’s a stigma attached to specialised services, or do you think young people are okay with accessing services tailor made to out-of-home care and aftercare supports? (e) What do you think about the idea of transitioning to ‘independence’? Is it a good thing to be aiming for, or should we be focussing more on connecting young people to their community, friends, family, and other supports? Or should we be doing both? (see Appendix A).

Procedure

The focus group questions were emailed to the CREATE staff member in each state who coordinated the YAG session. The questions were presented to the various YAG meetings in a focus group format, with CREATE staff documenting the responses. The raw data were then forwarded to CREATE’s Policy and Advocacy Officer (PAO) for collation and categorisation of issues (see Appendix B).

In addition to the YAG group sessions, the PAO conducted detailed one-to-one interviews with a young person (five in total) representing each of the following special interest groups: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD); Disability; Indigenous; Mental Health; Youth Justice. An interview sheet was developed to collect the demographic data and responses of the interviewee to five (5) questions relating to planning for the process of transitioning, specific/specialist needs related to transitioning, barriers faced and suggestions for governments to overcome those barriers (see Appendix C). The responses of each interviewee were recorded as individual case studies (see Appendix D).

Stage 2: NYAC Forum

Participants

Ten NYAC delegates (six male and four female) participated in the one-day forum in Brisbane; three were from Queensland, two from the Australian Capital Territory, with one delegate from each of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Western Australia was not represented. The participants were aged between 18 and 25 years (mean age 21 years). The majority (n=8) gave their cultural background as “Australian”, the others being Indonesian and Maori/Samoan.

Instruments

A series of prompt questions (see Appendix E) was developed by CREATE’s PAO, to address the key issues and priorities drawn from the literature and identified by the young people in the Stage 1 consultation. These also were aligned with the key priorities and strategic directions outlined in Appendices D and E in the Discussion Paper developed by FaHCSIA (2010:21-24) for the NFIWG Transitioning to Independence Sub-Working Group.

Procedure

The NYAC delegates received the key questions as pre-forum discussion documents, and were encouraged to consider their responses individually, or with support from a CREATE staff member in their state. The NYAC discussion forum was facilitated by CREATE’s PAO using the base questions to elicit informed comment.

The discussion forum was divided into three sections: Preparation Phase, Transition Phase, and After Care Phase. Each section began with establishing a context by asking participants what the important considerations were for that particular phase.

The facilitator then stated how that phase had been defined by Maunders, Liddell, Liddell and Green (1999) and sought feedback from the participants as to whether they thought this was an accurate depiction. The group’s discussion then explored issues relevant to each phase. During the session, the PAO documented the responses and later collated the raw data (see Appendix F).