Thursday, 2 November 2023

Ministers statements: child protection

Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:45): I rise to update the house on the good work being done by our residential care sector and in particular the workers who are caring for young people in care. The Allan Labor government values and celebrates the role of our residential care workers, and I recently attended Resi Rocks, an annual event to gather and celebrate our residential care workers. There are over 2000 residential care workers across our state. About 420 of these participated in this year’s Resi Rocks. Each and every day they are there for our young people, caring for them, listening to them and supporting them in both the good and the challenging times. The Resi Rocks day included an awards ceremony with a number of award winners and of course the presentation of the annual hoodie, a very cosy hoodie, which is the pride of the attendees.

I would like to particularly acknowledge the winners of the residential care team award, the Berwick team from Anglicare. The Berwick team have cultivated a cohesive and collaborative team culture underpinned by a shared commitment to achieving positive outcomes for staff, children, young people and their families. They have built a safe, homely and trusting environment that celebrates the unique qualities of each young person and demonstrates their commitment to understanding and supporting the young people. A number of young people within the home live with a disability, and with this comes a variety of complex needs and support networks. The team has not only navigated this successfully but has supported each young person to ensure their individual needs are met and that the home is a stable environment for them. The team has implemented several initiatives that support children and young people to engage in education. This has resulted in two young people re-engaging in education full-time and a third young person attending school for the first time. The team has worked closely with schools to prepare adjusted timetables and worked closely with teachers and staff to integrate young people back into education. I want to congratulate the Berwick team for their incredible support of the young people in their care.

Residential care workers play an important role in our community. I take this opportunity to again acknowledge the incredible care and commitment that they all have on display, and I thank them for everything that they do to help young people in care grow up safe, connected and supported so that they can reach their full potential.