Each year on 3 December, International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) invites us to reflect on how far we’ve come; and how much more we can do, to build a society where every person can participate fully, safely and with dignity.
This year’s theme, “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress,” feels especially relevant here in Victoria. Our foster care system continues to face rising pressure, and one of the clearest indicators of where support systems are falling short is this:
Around 41% of children in foster care in Victoria have a disability, compared with only 7.7% of children under 15 in the general population.
Disability is part of human diversity. It is not the cause of this overrepresentation. Rather, these figures reflect system gaps, not individual or family failings; showing us where change is both urgent and possible.
Meet Chantal: A Kinship Care Case Manager and Disability Rights Advocate
To understand the story behind these numbers, we spoke with Chantal Vrielink, a Kinship Care Therapeutic Case Manager and long-time disability rights advocate. Her career has been shaped by the intersection of disability, trauma, culture, and community.
“Disability advocacy has been intrinsically interwoven through my roles. Across the various fields I’ve worked in, I’ve seen how disability intersects with trauma, mental health, culture, gender, and socioeconomic disadvantage.”
What drives Chantal is simple but powerful: inclusion that honours the whole person.
“Much of my advocacy is to bring greater understanding to the intersectionality of disability, so responses can be respectful, inclusive, and adaptable to these nuanced needs.”
Why Are So Many Children with Disability Entering Foster Care in Victoria?
Evidence consistently shows that disabled young people’s pathways into care are shaped by structural gaps, fragmented services, and insufficient early intervention — not by disability itself.
A 2024 national review, highlights “multi-system involvement,” “system failures,” and “gaps in service provision at multiple levels of the system” as defining features of the care journeys of disabled young people. These findings align with what practitioners like Chantal see daily. Drawing on her experience, she identifies four primary systemic factors that commonly contribute to this overrepresentation:
Overly complex siloed systems that are difficult to navigate
The same review describes how disabled young people move through overlapping disability, education, health and child protection systems that often fail to communicate effectively. The review documents “fragmented support across disability, education and child protection systems” and notes that poor interagency coordination directly contributes to placement instability and unmet support needs.
Chantal sees these dynamics reflected in practice: families attempting to access help early encounter multiple disconnected entry points, none of which take full responsibility. As the scoping review concludes, “Children with disability in out-of-home care experience forms of harm driven not by impairment but by multi-system failures.”
Insufficient funding and resources to early intervention
Children with disabilities needs are often recognised early, but no single system assumes responsibility for coordinating early intervention. This results in:
- delayed or incomplete assessments
- missed referral windows
- unmet behavioural or therapeutic needs
- increased likelihood of protective concerns being raised
Over time, these missed opportunities compound. The review notes that such systemic gaps “push children into out-of-home care”, not because needs are unmanageable, but because the support intended to prevent escalation is not delivered in time.
Exclusive eligibility to access government-funded supports
Families of children with disabilities often describe the support landscape as a maze — particularly where eligibility for services like the NDIS interacts poorly with child protection and family services.
Research shows that NDIS packages fund only the individual, leaving family-based supports (such as parenting assistance, respite capacity or holistic intervention) categorised as “not disability support.” Simultaneously, state child protection and family services have “devolved disability-related responsibility to the NDIS,” restricting early intervention options unless a child is already considered at risk of significant harm.
Additional evidence shows how these constraints escalate pressure:
- Families who cannot access “the amount and/or type of respite care needed” experience rising stress, and “unavailable respite care will result in an escalation of the number of people being relinquished into out-of-home respite care.”
- Access to practical supports such as childcare and flexible work significantly decreases the likelihood of parents voluntarily placing a disabled child in OOHC.
Together, these findings show that when eligibility settings are narrow and supports are difficult to access, families are left to cope alone until crisis intervention becomes the only pathway available.
Acquired neurodivergence through developmental trauma
Developmental trauma is one of the clearest pathways linking disability and entry into care. Research shows that chronic adversity in childhood: such as persistent neglect, abuse or instability, can alter brain development in ways that create cognitive, emotional and behavioural differences often described as acquired neurodivergence.
National evidence confirms that some disabilities seen in out-of-home care are “directly linked to early experiences of physical or psychological maltreatment and trauma”. These trauma-related neurodevelopmental needs often present as high support needs that families struggle to meet without coordinated, timely intervention.
In this way, developmental trauma doesn’t just shape a child’s neurodevelopment — it increases the likelihood they will be classified as having a disability, and when the support systems around them fail to respond early and effectively, it becomes a significant driver of their overrepresentation in foster and kinship care across Victoria.
The Early Supports That Could Promote Stability
Chantal explains that many families reach crisis point, not because they are unwilling to seek support, but because the systems designed to help them are complex, slow and difficult to access. Government-funded disability supports, including the NDIS, often involve strict eligibility criteria, lengthy wait times and multiple assessment stages that can be overwhelming for families already under pressure.
Even obtaining an initial diagnostic assessment — a requirement for many supports, can be costly, time-consuming and difficult to access, particularly for families in regional areas or those navigating multiple stressors. From there, parents must move through eligibility assessments, planning meetings and administrative steps before they can even begin searching for local providers, many of whom have limited capacity or extensive waitlists.
Instead of receiving the timely intervention that could stabilise their situation, parents’ and carers’ stress and fatigue escalate without relief. When supports are inaccessible, insufficient or simply arrive too late, child protection becomes involved not because families failed, but because the system did.
Chantal is clear: earlier, easier-to-navigate support would prevent many young people from entering care in the first place.
How Lighthouse Supports Young People With Disability in Care
While system reform is essential, young people already in care need environments that truly understand and respond to both their disability support needs and their experiences of trauma. Lighthouse’s Model of Care is built around relational stability, trauma-informed practice and identity-affirming support — ensuring each young person is seen, heard and supported as a whole person.
We recognise that every child is unique and carries a range of their experiences: disability, trauma, culture, family history and, for many, the lived experience of care. Our model is designed to honour and integrate all of these layers.
Lighthouse provides carers with a strong, connected network of supports:
- Coordinated therapeutic support:
Our trained Therapeutic Staff walk alongside carers through everyday challenges and transitions — from navigating school drop-offs, to managing car rides, to preparing for family contact. These predictable, consistent responses help build emotional regulation, safety and trust. - A trauma-informed Hub Home community:
The Hub Home is a welcoming local space where children, young people and carers can connect with a supportive community. Carers are offered reflective practice sessions, both individually and in groups, which strengthen confidence and connection. - Disability-inclusive practice woven into daily care:
Lighthouse ensures that accommodation, routines and communication styles are adapted to each young person’s needs. This includes visual supports, sensory-aware environments, advocacy in school and NDIS settings, and predictable rhythms that create calm and security. - Partnerships with disability-specialised providers:
We collaborate with disability-specific organisations who provide specialised training and consultation, supporting carers to respond confidently to disability-related behaviours and therapeutic needs. - Respite with therapeutically trained staff and carers:
Carers can access respite from staff and carers who are not only trained in trauma-informed care, but who also understand the child’s disability presentation — ensuring continuity, safety and comfort.
Navigating disability services can be complex for any family, and even more so for those already juggling heightened stress. This is especially true when a child does not yet have a formal diagnosis or when wait times for assessment are long. Lighthouse helps bridge these gaps by offering advocacy, NDIS navigation support, clear referral pathways, and hands-on coordination of allied health and support services. This allows carers to focus more energy on nurturing the young person, and less on navigating systems.
Carers often tell us that supporting a young person with both trauma histories and disability can feel overwhelming at times. Lighthouse provides trauma-informed responses to expressions of trauma, while also ensuring that disability-related needs are recognised and supported through tailored, coordinated guidance. Together, these approaches create the stable foundations young people need to heal, grow and thrive.
What Needs to Change Now, and What’s Achievable
Chantal notes that meaningful change doesn’t have to be complex — it has to be accessible. She emphasises that the most powerful improvements are those that make support systems easier to navigate, more inclusive, and responsive to the diverse identities and circumstances of each family.
Drawing from her insight:
- Create simpler, more inclusive service pathways:
Systems need to recognise a person’s intersectional identity — acknowledging how disability, trauma, culture, gender and socioeconomic factors overlap, and respond through clear processes, accessible information and shorter wait times.
- Improve access to assessments and early intervention:
Quicker, well-coordinated assessments and early supports can stabilise families before challenges escalate, reducing the crisis points that often precede child protection involvement.
- Prioritise timely, joined-up responses across sectors:
When disability, health, education and child protection services work together from the start, families are supported holistically rather than being passed between systems.
- Shift investment toward prevention rather than crisis:
Strengthening early access to supports ensures that young people with disability are not entering foster care because help arrived too late — but instead are empowered to remain safely within their families and communities.
How the Community Can Help
While no individual action can fix a system, collective community momentum can drive the cultural and political will needed for change.
Here’s how you can contribute meaningfully:
- Share this article for International Day of People with Disability (IDPWD)
- Support foster care and kinship care programs through donating
- Consider becoming a foster carer for a child with disability:
Carers who understand disability-inclusive and trauma-informed practice can change the trajectory of a young person’s life.
Inclusion Means Families Stay Strong
The overrepresentation of children with disability in foster care isn’t inevitable — it’s a sign that our systems still aren’t inclusive enough. But when families receive timely, accessible and disability-informed support, crises can be prevented and young people can stay safely at home.
If you’re able, consider fostering a child with a disability — your home could be the stability and understanding they deserve.
Enquire about fostering here.
