[Sub ID 4658] Early Intervention support for young carers (Department of Social Services)

Submission ID: 4658
Organisation name: Department of Social Services

Which priority group of the Try, Test and Learn Fund does your idea support?
Young carers

What need or issue are you trying to address?
Young carers experience poor long-term employment outcomes and therefore remain on income support for significant periods of time. On average, young carers are each expected to have an average lifetime cost of $464,000.

Many young carers struggle to transition into employment after their caring responsibilities have subsided due to limited educational attainment. Young carers struggle to participate in education due to the conflicting demands of work, school and caring responsibilities.

Services that are available to young carers to help ease these demands are underutilised for a variety of reasons, including previous negative experiences with support services, perceived complexity of support services, a lack of services specifically targeted at the cohort, conflicting demands of various responsibilities and social isolation.

What is your idea?
The proposal would adopt an early intervention and support approach including three key elements: 1. Planning; 2. Monitoring; and 3. Supports.

1. Planning: Young carers who participate in the trial would attend an initial tailored planning session with a case manager. This session would involve identifying and discussing the needs of the participant, developing a plan for managing education with other responsibilities, developing an emergency care plan and assessing the participant’s mental wellbeing.

2. Monitoring: Ongoing monitoring would be delivered through an App or online. This would measure the participant’s engagement with education, level of care responsibilities and mental wellbeing. Additionally, monitoring would assist the participant to identify issues and request support. Ongoing monitoring would be completed at regular intervals and would be flexible to the needs of the participant.

3. Supports: Any issues identified through monitoring would be followed up by the case manager, who would assist in facilitating appropriate supports. These include existing services such as counselling, bursaries, respite care, tutoring, special consideration, and help navigating payments and services.

This idea is underpinned by the evidence-base of successful early intervention and case management programs in mental health, employment services and related social policy fields.