Transition to adulthood

Graphs

Proportion of young people aged 15 years and over where planning for transition from care planning occured and they participated in the transition from care planning, as at 30 June 2011 Proportion of young people aged 15 years and over where planning for their transition to adulthood is required and has occurred, as at 30 June 2020

YearParticipated in transition from care planningDid not participate in transition from care planning
2010-11 90 % 10 %

Table

DescriptionAnnualQuarterly
TTA.1: Number of young people aged 15 years and over subject to a child protection order granting custody or guardianship to the Chief Executive with transition to adulthood planning, Queensland Excel (XLSX, 22 KB) Excel (CSV, 4 KB) Excel (XLSX, 22 KB) Excel (CSV, 5 KB)

What is transition to adulthood planning?

Transition to adulthood is the process that supports a young person's transition from care to adult functioning, in order to maximise life opportunities and choices.

Transition to adulthood planning is recorded within the case plan document and commences from the year a young person turns 15. The review of a young person's progress towards achieving transition to adulthood goals occurs at each case plan review which occurs at least every six months.

Why this topic is important

Young people who are in, or transitioning from care have the same developmental needs as those who are not in care, but they also face a range of unique challenges and circumstances that highlight their need for particular support during this time.

Young people leaving care are often coming to terms with or seeking information about the reasons why they came into care, renegotiating family relationships and looking to their future opportunities.

A well-planned, gradual and flexible process for transitioning young people to adulthood is very important, including the potential provision of support for a period of time after they have left care.

As at 30 June 2020, there were 1,706 young people aged 15 years and over subject to a child protection order granting custody or guardianship to the chief executive.

Of these, transition to adulthood planning had occurred for 1,159 young people or 67.9 per cent. The majority of these young people had participated in their planning (91.4 per cent).

Over the past five years there has been a 1.5 percentage point increase in the proportion of eligible children with a transition to adulthood plan from 66.4 per cent as at 30 June 2016 to 67.9 per cent as at 30 June 2020.

There are a number of valid reasons why a young person may not have a transition to adulthood plan recorded. These include instances where transition planning:

  • has not yet occurred (e.g. a young person has only recently turned 15 years and their case plan has not yet been reviewed)
  • has been delayed, because advice has been received from a therapeutic worker that the young person is not ready to commence these discussions
  • has not commenced, as a young person may refuse to engage in planning and the focus of case work is on engaging the young person prior to commencement of meaningful planning
  • has been completed, but not yet recorded
  • has been completed and recorded, but is yet to be approved.