Jessica Wilson was in and out of foster care from the age of five.
When she set out to live independently, in her late teens, she says she was pretty much on her own.
"I've always wanted to get out of the system. I wanted to make it on my own. But it was difficult - I had all the challenges of not having a family... not having support to go back to."
Nevertheless, she defied the odds – attaining a degree in Social Sciences and becoming a case worker, helping other foster children.
"I had a lot of bad experiences and I could have made a lot of different choices but I decided to be a role model for myself and for my siblings and I wanted to choose a different path than my family did,” she said.
Her success story is unfortunately a rare one.
Recent studies show more than one third of children are homeless within a year of leaving foster care. More than half (65 per cent) do not complete school, and up to 75 per cent struggle to find full-time work or study. As many as 46 per cent of young men and 22 per cent of young women end up in the juvenile justice system.
With almost 40,000 Australian children in foster care, Wesley Mission is working to turn those statistics around. It has launched a 12-month pilot program to mentor young people leaving home care.
"Leaving care is a gap and something unfortunately we don't do well at the moment. So if we can bridge that gap and offer more support than it can be fantastic," Ms Wilson said.
Family Services Minister Brad Hazzard said the government needed to do more.
The program will target up to 100 young people across Sydney by providing education and training, life skill development, access to accommodation and employment.
-With AAP
