We’ve heard the National Children’s Commissioner talk about just how many kids in youth detention and adults in prison started their interactions with the state in out-of-home care. But did you know that a third of kids in care, end up homeless? What happens when they turn 18? How do we fill the gap between being cared for by the state and life as an adult out in the world? Who is doing that work, what’s working and what do they need?
Rick Hind (RH), ABC Radio Darwin presenter
RH: Did you see Laetitia Lemke’s story on Stateline last night? 18-year-olds leaving out-of-home residential care confronting the real prospect of homelessness. Terence Puruntatameri (TP) has secured a traineeship at Hammers 4 Hope.
TP: When I first started, I was a bit anxious and that, but later down the track I felt more comfortable with the tools and working my way around a job site.
Scott Sharpe (SS): I’ve seen him grow. I’ve seen what he’s achieved. I am really proud of who he is and the person he is becoming.
RH: That’s Scott Sharpe from Hammers 4 Hope; we’ll get to them in a moment. Fantasia Rose Portaminni (FP) didn’t know what would happen to her once she turned 18 and left residential care.
FP: I was just confused where I was going to go. Soon they [CASPA] told me they had a place waiting for me and then that’s when I felt more better.
RH: A good story for her but we have the highest rate of kids in out-of-home care in the country. 9 in 10 kids in out-of-home care in the NT are First Nations. A third of children in out-of-home residential care become homeless after leaving it. One third. How can we turn around that startling, horrifying figure. Naarah Rodwell (NR) is the CEO of CASPA, Child and Adolescent Specialist Programs and Accommodation. It’s based in Northern NSW but works in the Northern Territory too. Naarah, thanks for joining us on 105.7 ABC Radio Darwin.
NR: No worries, thanks for having me.
RH: Why do so many 18-year-olds leaving out-of-home care end up homeless?
NR: Look, we talk about it as the black hole, you know? Kids who have been experiencing big amounts of complex trauma in their childhoods and their upbringing. And they come into the out-of-home care system where we wrap around extensive supports to support them to heal, and also to get them ready for life after care. But it comes too soon at the age of 18. When you look at what actually happens in families around Australia, and the supports and scaffolds that people need until much older ages in their life. When they are actually ready to fly the nest and be independent. For kids in care that literally comes at 18, and its not enough, what we can do for them in the out-of-home care system, to have them be ready and supported to actually survive out there. Especially when you look at the cost of living and rates of homelessness and all the other complexities they face.
RH: So, what’s missing in their transition to adulthood? Is it just that it’s too sharp? If you’re in a loving, caring home with your parents, you turn 18. You might have to start paying rent, for instance, but you’ve got a backstop, and these kids just don’t have that?
NR: Yeah, and look its, look, what is the housing market for a young person at the age of 18 who, you know, has to live independently without the support of a family environment where they can come and go. Where housing is stable for up to five, six, seven years after they’ve turned 18 while they bounce in and out and experiment and try new things. So, for an 18-year-old leaving out-of-home care it’s the startling reality of, well, where do I live after this? What will be my housing? And to enter the private housing market is absolutely, its just not a reality. And the housing that is available to them is almost not a reality as well.
RH: We’ve even heard with social housing that there’s a dis-incentive for social housing suppliers to have younger people because they’ll get less rent per person than they would from say an aged-care pensioner, an aged-pensioner.
NR: Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. But also, just the skills to know how to actually, to live independently, and to have those skills that are required to be a good tenant. And to maintain your housing. Because those are skills that are learnt over time.
RH: So, what does CASPA do to help kids leaving this situation.
NR: Look, in the Northern Territory we’ve been working with the department to pilot some programs that we run in other parts of the country.
In the Northern Territory we’ve been delivering what we call “Transition to Independent Living”. And it’s basically [where] we hold their hands, we transition them into sort of semi-independent living, we pay their tenancy, we find the rental properties for them and we provide targeted mentoring and supports. For some of the kids that have been recipients of that program, it’s a very small few, it’s a handful, we’ve had really exceptional results. And you heard from Terence being one of them, and Fantasia.
Naarah Rodwell, CASPA CEO
RH: Can you tell us a bit more about Hammers 4 Hope?
NR: Yeah! Hammers 4 Hope was an initiative that we started in NSW. We have, well it’s a strange skill set to have, we have trained, therapeutically trained, tradies who work for our organisation. So, out of that we developed a social enterprise called Hammers 4 Hope where we can actually have kids that are in the programs that we deliver across the country come and learn skills, do some work experience, and in some cases that is actually then moved into paid employment and traineeships. And Terence is one of our most amazing stories. He’s been such an amazing journey to watch unfold. Driven wholly and solely by his own motivation to leave the out-of-home care system with strong supports in place and a bright future ahead of him.
RH: How could, ah, if you’re a tradie and you think, ah! I’d love to do this! But you need therapeutic training, how do you go about it?
NR: Well, you come to us, and we provide the training (laughs). We are always employing, we’re always hiring, and Hammers 4 Hope is a program we hope to take across the nation. Because we know that it works. And we know that there are so many kids that benefit from being involved in an adult environment where they are learning these employability skills. But they’re still supported to actually learn the skills they need to heal from their trauma experiences as well. So, it’s a really scaffolded, safe work environment for them.
RH: And Naarah Rodwell, CEO of CASPA, Child and Adolescent Specialist Programs and Accommodation, you’re working at the sharp end of teenagers’ interactions with the federal government and state institutions. Its federal budget night, what would you like to see in the federal budget?
NR: Look, I would love to see far more money and supports going into the after-care space. We’re doing pretty well in terms of funding the out-of-home care space in the Northern Territory. We have a long way to go for kids who are leaving care.
This interview was first released on 24 March 2025 on ABC Radio Darwin Mornings.
