23-year-old Lee has spent most of her childhood in foster care with dozens of different families.

Some of them were abusive.

At 16, Lee finally became part of a loving family.

Watch the video

Have Your Say: Should the legal age of foster care be raised from 18 to 21 years or older?

"I didn't even know what it was like to be hugged, you know" Lee says. "I found it really quite scary for me going to this place being actually cared and loved for because it was just a completely new thing for me."

But the transition from foster child to independent adult has been tough.

At present, there's little support for people who are making that transition.

But there are calls for change. The CREATE Foundation has released a report, Transitioning From Care.

Jacqui Reed from CREATE says governments need to devote funding into the transition process "to stop children and young people being welfare dependant, unemployed" and from being "involved in the juvenile justice system."

Living Black investigates the need for post-care services.

TRANSCRIPT

KG: There's eight times as many Indigenous children in foster care as there is non-Indigenous.

Right now there are about 8,000 Aboriginal foster kids, almost 20% more than last year. But what happens when a child turns 18? There are some transition services available but there are calls for these to be significantly improved.

Living Black video journalist Kris Flanders has the story.

Reporter: Childhood memories should be some of the happiest times. But it's not always the case.

23-year-old Lee was placed into foster care at the tender age of two. By the time she was 18, her total number of carers was 24. Some of them were violent, including her own family.

Lee: My dad, he is a very...alcoholic and he is very abusive and just not a nice man and my mother, she was pretty much the same, she just let a lot of things happen. So that's when I was put in foster care and my brother and sisters followed. I found it really hard just 'cause I already felt like I didn't have anyone and the fact that I was just getting placed everywhere, I felt like I wasn't cared about.

Reporter: Lee says she was 17 years old before she became part of a loving family with her auntie.

Lee: I didn't even know what it was to be hugged, you know, or actually be cared about and not get yelled at for breaking a glass. I found it really quite scary, going to this place, being actually cared and loved for because it was just a completely new thing for me. I didn't know what to expect.

Reporter: The CREATE Foundation provides an independent voice for children and young people in out-of-home-care.

This year it released a report - Transitioning from Care – into life after foster care.

Jacqui Reed, CREATE Foundation CEO: We were very able to demonstrate the need from the report that there was a huge cost to government if they don't do anything. So we could demonstrate quite easily that they needed to put money in through the transition process to stop children and young people being welfare-dependent, unemployed, involved in the juvenile justice system.

Reporter: 18-year-old Jessica Parker had spent her whole childhood in foster care. Jessica says her experience was positive but she knows she was one of the lucky ones.

Jessica Parker: I didn't see myself as being a foster kid, you know, growing up as a child. But as I grew up and getting into high school and primary school, teachers kind of exposed that type of image of me being in foster care and that's when a lot of, obviously, stereotypes did come around.

Reporter: The transition from foster care to independence was still hard for Jessica and she found herself
living in different places after turning 18.

Jessica Parker: I was actually staying at friends' and my sisters' during the time and I found that very challenging and I actually got a bite of what it is to live on your own, so that was a very big experience but it kind of opened up my eyes more.

Reporter: Jessica now does some volunteer work with the CREATE Foundation in Adelaide.

Lea Spaven, CREATE Foundation: She's had some very good role models in her life but she also recognises that things aren't great for people and that we can make improvements and she'd like to be part of that and I think it's very valuable to have young people in our community who are willing to make a difference for others as well as themselves.

Reporter: Children aren't the only ones who struggle to deal with foster families. Carers can also have a hard time. Over the past four years, foster mum Tracey Streeter has looked after 14 children. Now Tracey is taking care of five kids, as well as her own daughter.

Tracey Streeter, Foster Carer: We have the settling-in problems, the behaviour problems. They all come with their own little different issues. I have found that a lot of them, I guess because they've been neglected, they've got medical issues or educational issues.

Reporter: Tracey also wants to see some support given to foster children when they reach 18 and are no longer dependent on a carer.

Tracey Streeter: I think it should go on continually. I don't think it should stop because, as a parent, you don't stop being a parent ever. I think even these kids need somebody to be there, that they can turn to, that can stand up for them and keep putting them on the right track.

Reporter: There are now calls to raise the age ofstatutory parental responsibility from 18 to 21 and to also raise the age of casework support to 25 years of age and, in some cases, older.

Sylvia Ghaly, Association of Children's Welfare Agencies: So if we expect that young people at the age of 18 become totally independent and go find a house and a job and be able to kind of hit the ground running, we are really setting them to fail.

Reporter: It's a view supported by the CREATE Foundation.

Jacqui Reed: What we also have done is said to government we're back out here in 12 months reinterviewing the children and young people to make sure that there has been significant improvements and that these recommendations have been implemented.

Reporter: Jessica Parker is planning to study law at university next year.

Jessica Parker: I have a direction in mind where I'd like to go. I'm actually looking forward to, obviously, private accommodation, looking for housing of my own, and obviously fit in a lot of study and work.

Reporter: Lee says she's moving forward and shares a close relationship with her auntie, the woman Lee credits as her saviour.

Lee: I tell her everything, because she always wants to know how I'm going and, like, she's always proud of me, no matter what I do.

Source: SBS