Law student Marcelle Parrot was removed from her family home at the age of 10.
For two years, she was moved between three different out-of-home-care placements in the central highlands city of Ballarat, Victoria.
"It was quite destabilising during that time. It was quite difficult not to be affected by what was going on," Ms Parrot said.
"During the beginning of high school, that's when I probably struggled the most.
"I was quite disengaged with my education and I wasn't able to focus on my goals or my aspirations."
Among more than 9,000 young people in care each year in Victoria, she felt alienated from her classmates.
"I felt stigmatised … like I was different, and that just perpetuated some negative beliefs about myself and what I could do in the world," Ms Parrot said.
But in her fourth placement at the age of 12, she joined a "really supportive" household that continued to be a part of her life today.
"That involved focus on helping me create a more positive sense of self and working on my identity and goals," Ms Parrot said.
Her carers, who she maintained a strong relationship with, encouraged her to think about how she could change the system to help other people.
"It allowed me to think about what I wanted to do with my life … and that led me into law," Ms Parrot said.
But not all care leavers have the luck of a supportive home that values education, nor the benefit of a La Trobe University scholarship.
In 2015, two years after Ms Parrot started high school, a survey of those who had left out-of-home-care (care leavers), found just 43 were enrolled in TAFE or university education.
In 2022, however, 670 care leavers were enrolled in post-secondary education — thanks in part to an initiative that targets universities.
Raising Expectations in partnership
Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare chief executive Deb Tsorbaris said an overseas trip showed her what was possible.
"In countries like Ireland, you would not hear anybody ever dispute the fact that children in out-of-home care should have a first class education, both at high school and post-high school," she said.
She said Victoria's attitude in 2015 was markedly different.
"Having met with young people telling me their stories, they told me they were being funnelled out pretty quickly into VCAL [Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning]," she said.
Ms Tsorbaris lobbied the government to fund the program, Raising Expectations, which collected data, coordinated scholarships, encouraged enrolments and training at universities.
"The more care leavers that go into higher education and get educated and feel proud to talk about their resilience and their strength and their journey, the more the community will feel more inclined to get involved," she said.
The program partners with La Trobe University, Federation University Australia and Swinburne University of Technology.
"I think there are settings and institutions, including sandstone universities, that feel too out of reach for some of our most disadvantaged citizens," Ms Tsorbaris said.
"My hope is that every university in Victoria will participate in Raising Expectations."
Calls for nationwide expansion
The success of the program has prompted calls to roll it out nationwide, using Victoria's model as a template.
The state's program is funded until June next year, costing taxpayers $300,000.
In a federal government budget submission, Ms Tsorbaris wrote educational access vastly improved later-life outcomes.
"A Deloitte analysis of the Social Return on Investment for Raising Expectations, commissioned by the program's partners, found that for every dollar invested, the program generates an estimated minimum of $1.80 in economic and social benefits," Ms Tsorbaris wrote.
"Scaling up this proven model across the country would improve the life opportunities for many care leavers in each jurisdiction through improved access to post-secondary education."
The former Coalition government committed to funding an expansion of the program to Sydney prior to the 2022 federal election.
The Labor government is yet to commit to the program.
