Home Stretch Symposium
Join policymakers, people with lived experience, researchers, out-of-home care practitioners and sector leaders from across Australia and internationally for the Home Stretch Symposium 2027!
With Corporate Parenting at the heart of this year’s program, the symposium will explore how governments and communities can move beyond care systems that end at 18 and towards a whole-of-government commitment to the people for whom they hold parental responsibility.
Through keynote presentations, panel discussions, lived experience conversations, delegates will learn about new policy, practice and cultural changes needed to improve outcomes in housing, education, health, employment, connection and belonging.
Keynote Speakers
In 2027, three internationally renowned keynote speakers with lived experience of out-of-home care will bring powerful lived-experience perspectives, complemented by expert insights into international policy, practice and system reform.
More speakers will be announced soon…
Mark Riddell
Mark Riddell
Mark Riddell left local authority care in 1984 and spent years working with a range of organisations to campaign for better support for care leavers before training as a social worker in 1990. He was the Service Manager for children in care and leaving care at Trafford council until 2017. In 2015 Ofsted rated the Trafford’s quality of care leaver provision at the council as ‘outstanding’. Trafford was the first in the country to achieve this.
In 2017 he received an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list for his outstanding contribution to children in care and care leavers.
Mark was appointed as the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers within the Department for Education. Previous to this he worked informally alongside the Children’s Minister Edward Timpson on the Care Leavers Strategy – Keep on Caring and the C&SW Act that introduced a new set of Corporate Parenting Duties, the consultation and publication of the local offer to care leavers and the Personal Advisor duty to 25yrs for all care leavers.
Mark also penned a book called The Cornflake Kid which about his time in the care system and subsequent travels around the world – including a chance casting in one of Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo movies.
Dr. Melanie Doucet
Dr. Melanie Doucet
Dr. Doucet has been working to improve the lives of youth in care for over 20 years, starting in her home province of New Brunswick, Canada and now based in the unceded traditional territory of the Kanyenʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) Nation in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is a former youth in care, holds a PhD in Social Work, is an expert consultant, an Adjunct Professor at the McGill University School of Social Work and Université Laval, a member of the McGill Centre for Research on Children and Families (CRCF) and the Executive Director of the newly established lived experience-led organization, the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates (NCYICA). Prior to relocating to Montreal, Dr. Doucet was a Project Officer for the Government of N.B.’s award winning Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) project for children and youth with emotional, behavioural and mental health issues, and was pivotal to its province-wide implementation. Her doctoral research, Relationships Matter for Youth ‘Aging Out’ of Care, received national attention and provided a platform for youth from care in the Greater Vancouver Area to develop child welfare research, policy and practice recommendations based on their lived experience expertise.
Dr. Doucet is a renowned public speaker on the importance of equitably supporting youth in and from care from a rights-based and humane perspective. Her work has received high-level acclaim including a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grants, and most recently, the Erminie Cohen Compassion Award. Dr. Doucet’s research aims to provide a platform for the voice of youth from care in proposing specific recommendations relevant to child welfare policies, programs and intervention strategies targeted to young people in care transitioning to adulthood. She is a passionate mentor to and advocate for youth involved in the child welfare system, and is currently leading the Equitable Transitions to Adulthood for Youth in Care project alongside the members of the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates.
Terry Galloway
Terry Galloway
Terry Galloway is a UK care-experienced campaigner, social entrepreneur and founder of Hazel Card. Having experienced over 100 moves before the age of 16, he brings personal insight into the importance of stability, belonging and enduring relationships.
Terry works with councils, government, businesses and communities to improve opportunities for people with care experience. He has helped drive the national campaign for councils to recognise care experience as a protected characteristic, placing it at the heart of decision-making.
Named in memory of his sister Hazel, Hazel Card connects care-experienced people with practical support, employment opportunities and their communities. His work focuses on turning commitments into meaningful change, so that support reflects people’s ambitions as well as their needs.
Terry is a trustee of NYAS and Gold From the Stone and was named one of The Big Issue’s 100 Changemakers for 2025.
Program
Program coming soon…
Across two days, the Symposium will play a critical role in advancing national reform, with contributions from policymakers, sector leaders, researchers and young people with lived experience.
Registration
