CREATE Foundation

CREATE work to have the voices of children in care heard, annually releasing a ‘report card’ that details the experiences of children and young people in out-of-home care and engaging with this group in a range of innovative and empowering ways.

CREATE will soon contact CSOs to discuss strategies to better support children and young people, and have submitted the following brief outlining their work and a range of opportunities that exist for agencies and children in care to engage with their programs:

CREATE foundation is the national peak representing the voices of children and young people in care.  CREATE believes that participation is the key to best practice and young people should have an active voice in decisions that affect their lives and the policies that support them. Through systemic advocacy it’s CREATE’s role to make those voices heard.

With the implementation of the national standards, it is important that as a state we can ensure that we have access to independent review and children and young people are aware of the opportunities to participate.  You may have recently heard about the launch of the CREATE 2013 Report Card ‘Experience of out of home care in Australia’. This is an independent report on the experiences of over 1000 children and young people.  162 Victorian young people in care aged 8-18 participated in the study.  At CREATE we think that number can be higher for future Report Cards and we need your help to make sure Victorians can share their voice. 

CREATE is asking CSO’s to consider how their current practices support children and young people with a care experience to connect with CREATE.  How do we ensure that young people know about CREATE foundation and how to sign up to clubCREATE if they wish to. clubCREATE is a club just for people with a care experience aged 0-25. Members get access to all of CREATE’s free events, training opportunities, camps,  grants, life skills, advocacy opportunities, leadership programs and opportunities to use their voice in state and national consultations.  All children and young people entering care for the first time receive an entering care kit. Members also receive a bimonthly CREATE magazine containing invites to CREATE’s opportunities. New members can sign up at www.create.org.au or contact the state office on 1800 655 105.  Alternatively organisations can order membership forms from the state office. A couple of agencies have already looked at how they can improve CREATE connection with their clients through their strategic plan.  Another agency has made CREATE membership part of their referral form. CREATE will be making contact with CSO’s in the coming weeks to talk about how we can support children and young people in your agency to connect with CREATE. You can also contact Cathy Carnovale Victorian State Coordinator for more information on 03 9918 0002.

Copies of the 2013 Report Card can be found at the CREATE website www.create.org.au.