Every child and young person has the right to reach their potential. When a child or young person cannot live at home we provide safe and stable homes through our Out Of Home Care services. In the past year, we have supported Out Of Home Care to over 2,500 babies, children and young people across Australia and New Zealand.

We may also arrange for family contact, clinical services, educational and employment services, transition support, cultural planning and respite care as part of our wrap-around support.

Our services include:

• foster care
• residential care
• supported accommodation
• respite care
• child care

We also offer:

• case management/care coordination
• family contact
• clinical services
• education and employment services
• transition support
• cultural planning
• foster carer recruitment, training and support
• research and evaluation.

Foster Care

Our foster care services are provided to children and young people aged from birth to 17 years of age who are unable to live with their own families. The care is provided by people in the community within their own home on a short or long-term basis.

Specialised or therapeutic foster carer is provided to children with high and/or complex needs such as disabilities, developmental delays or learning difficulties, or complex and challenging behaviours.

Respite Care

Respite carers provide short-term care for children and young people when their foster carer needs a break. It is usually planned in advance but can, on occasion, be required immediately. Respite also provides children and young people with opportunities to develop further skills and build their support network.

Residential care

Our residential care services provide 24-hour care to one or more children or young people in a house, using a team of trained residential support workers. Residential care services aim to help children transition into a family or young people into semi-independent living arrangements.

Supported accommodation

Supported accommodation services provide flexible living arrangements and lifestyle supports to young people preparing to leave care. The support is tailored to each young person’s needs and goals, and focused on developing their skills and independence, and building links within the community.

Child Care

We have two community-based child care centres situated in the remote communities in the Northern Territory providing high-quality, culturally-sensitive services that also provide educational workshops for parents.

Case management or Care Coordination

LWB coordinates a range of supports and services according to specific case or care plans. Through a case management and care coordination process, children and young people are involved in all decision-making to empower and build their confidence and independence. We know that involving young people in the development of their care plan increases the likelihood of positive outcomes.

Family Contact and Support

Contact with families is undertaken in a safe and neutral setting, with a focus on maintaining a sense of identity for the child or young person, or to establish positive bonds and attachments with their natural family. Family contact includes transportation, supervision and facilitation of family visits as stipulated by the relevant children’s court or government departments.

We aim to work with families at risk of having a child placed in care, and support families who already have a child in care, to provide parents with skills, knowledge and insight for developing relationships in a safe, supervised environment. We also help families learn how to manage stress, conflict and anxiety in appropriate ways, and to establish positive parenting practices and household routines.

Clinical Services

Our clinical specialists assist and support children and young people in a number of key areas including issues of attachment and trauma, health care and developmental assessments, positive behaviour support and language development. These are provided by professionals from a range of backgrounds including psychology, nursing, social work, speech pathology, occupational therapy and physiotherapy.

Carers and employees working directly with children and young people also receive specific training and support from the clinical services staff.

Education and Employment Services

Our education services re-engage and support children and young people in mainstream education and training to increase their access to, and presence in, the workforce.

Our employment services include assessment and training, and support to identify and promote employment opportunities.

Transition Support

We help young people who have been in care to transition to living more independently and to develop plans for their future, and build their confidence and skills to make important decisions including where they will live, study and work.

Cultural Planning

Our cultural support teams provide specialised support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, including developing cultural plans to establish, maintain and develop their connection to family and country to strengthen their cultural identity and participation in the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

Youth Justice Services

At Life Without Barriers we work with young people who have been in the Juvenile Justice system with housing, education and training, transport, mentoring and alcohol and drug counselling; and to increase their workforce participation. Our employment services provide assessment and training, and support in identifying employment opportunities.

Our youth justice services in the Kimberley region of Western Australia provide individualised support to young people at risk of entering prison and helps those leaving custody to return to living more independently in their community.

Multisystemic Therapy (MST)

LWB is the Australasian Network Partner/license holder for the Multisystemic Therapy (MST) program. MST operates from a family preservation model that seeks to keep a family together. It is an intensive 4-5 month, home-based intervention for young people aged between 12 and 16 years (sometimes 10, 11 and 17 year olds), which focusses on supporting parents and caregivers by teaching them the problem-solving skills necessary to better manage their children’s behaviour. Skills learned help to improve communication within the family and between relevant systems such as school and the community. The program has also demonstrated that both the young person and the parents and carers have improved mental health following the intervention.

This child and adolescent mental health program is unique within Australian mental health services, and has gained the attention of leading Australian child mental health researchers. Importantly, the intervention has been shown to enable families to achieve significant and enduring improvements in the young person’s behaviour, with the young person remaining living at home; positively engaged in school; and more involved in pro-social activities. There is very strong evidence of this program’s effectiveness (including value for money) for families with youth who are otherwise at high risk of ongoing and expensive involvement with our health, and Justice systems.