Last year, more than 40,000 kids younger than 10 faced homelessness in Australia. Usually, the support services are aimed at the adults in the family because it's their job to look after the children. But a new program is putting the spotlight on kids, asking them simple questions like, "how are you?"
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00:00Joelle Pressenkewler's got a few tattoos, but two are special.
00:06I've got an A for my daughter's name here.
00:09She got her two daughters' initials just after she secured housing, something she doesn't
00:15take for granted.
00:16When I open that door and I take a look around, I'm like, wow, this is mine.
00:21I love it.
00:22Joelle was five when she first became homeless, couch surfing with her mum and three younger
00:28siblings.
00:29I just had no idea what was going on.
00:31I had no idea what was going on, so mum received a support worker and I just was kind of, you
00:37know, in the background, I was never really asked, how do you need assistance?
00:43She went through homelessness several more times as a young person.
00:47I feel like if I had specialist support when I was a child experiencing homelessness, I
00:51may not have experienced reoccurring homelessness that I did.
00:56A new program in Melbourne's outer east is doing just that, linking kids with a specialist
01:02worker.
01:03She actually has those private conversations with the children.
01:07The program's been running for about six months and helped about 15 kids aged 6 to 16.
01:14First of all, to find some words for their feelings, things like, well, I was really
01:19sad when I left a particular school.
01:21I didn't have my school uniform and so I couldn't go to school because school said that I have
01:25to have my uniform on.
01:27It can also be tough for even younger kids.
01:30Over four years, there were at least 410 children under five, including babies, at Melbourne
01:37City Mission's Youth Homelessness Refuges with their parents.
01:4135 babies were born into refuges in the past year.
01:45It's a huge oversight.
01:48Melbourne City Mission is relying on philanthropy to fund an early childhood worker.
01:53To support their safety needs, their wellbeing needs, their physical needs, developmental
01:58needs.
01:59The Federal Government is developing a National Housing and Homelessness Plan with the states
02:04and territories.
02:05These groups are urging them to include the needs of very young children.