Specialised Services and Support

About

Support to Young Adults You will provide culturally appropriate, proactive and practical support to eligible young adults including - • accessing and maintaining safe, secure and affordable housing as a priority, • connecting or maintaining connections to family, culture, Country and community, • assertive outreach for those not previously engaged in approved placements, taking into account their experiences in the care system or difficulties engaging with formal supports, • accessing education and training opportunities and finding employment, • learning budgeting and other independent living skills, • accessing stable income or financial support to meet their cost of living, • improving health and wellbeing, • facilitating referrals and advocating access to other resources and services, including specialist services for complex support needs, • linking them to opportunities that promote independence, and • taking them to appointments and connecting to formal or informal support networks (mentors or other safe community members) to assist in their journey to adulthood.

Support to the Carer Household You will provide support for young adults to continue to live in the carer household, recognising it as an enabling factor for their transition from care and into adulthood.

Your response will focus on assisting carers to support young adults.

This may include the provision of psychoeducation, referrals that support the carers’ wellbeing and other practical assistance to support young adults changing needs.

Administration of Financial Support to Eligible Young Adults You will administer up to $16,630 (in 2024-25) per annum, excluding GST, for young adults living in their own independent housing arrangements from their 18th to 21st birthdays.

This financial support is a key component of the EPCS service model and will be available to young adults as part of the broader supports you provide.

The administration of the financial support will be tailored and led by young adults to empower them to make decisions and to strengthen their financial decision-making capacity.

The financial support must be administered as per the EPCS Financial Support Guidelines (Attachment 1).

This funding schedule includes one payment representing the second instalment of financial support for those young people who became eligible in 2023-24.

Future payments will be provided directly to You based on the eligibility of young people and the Your satisfactory completion of relevant reporting requirements under this contract.

You are required to maintain records on the expenditure of financial support with each young person.

These records will be used by Us with You to reconcile expenditure on individual young people turning 19, 20 or 21 in a quarter.

This reconciliation process will inform the quantum of financial support funds to be released by Us to You.

You must record and maintain financial support expenditure on each eligible young person using the spreadsheet provided at Attachment 2 unless you have the written approval of Us to capture and present the required information in a different format.