Nowhere to call home for Christmas
The number of children forced into supervised residential care is skyrocketing, but Gold Coast mother Jane Padden is making sure their Christmas isn’t cancelled
“IT’S like an auction, but no one is bidding.”
Those are the heartbreaking words of a child forced into residential care, told to the Queensland Family and Child Commission.
Taken out of their family home, unable to find a foster family, the only option for this teenager was resi-care – a last resort where supervision is rostered out to a team of employees.
Living in a type of shared house for children, most of the young residents in state care have witnessed or been victims of neglect, abuse and domestic violence.
That danger means they must be removed from their own home … but that trauma means it’s hard to find foster parents.
The sad truth is that resicare is a better, safer environment for these children than their own families.
But it’s no home.
And never less so than at Christmas.
So thank God for Jane Patten.
The Coomera mother has spent the last eight years doing everything she can to ensure every child in resi-care in South East Queensland wakes up on December 25 with something just for them.
“One of my customers is a child safety officer, she started telling
me one day just how distressing it is to see what these kids go through,” says Jane, who runs a beauty business.
“I had no idea about the difference between foster care and resi-care.
“The reason why these kids cannot be with a foster family are varied, but simply put, foster carers struggle with challenging teenage behaviours and usually won’t accept kids over 12 years of age.
“Some kids have multiple disabilities combined with trauma, high-risk activities, drugs, crime and disengagement from school. Foster carers cannot manage all this, especially if they have their own family or are not skilled enough.
“The young people are housed in homes that are run by not-for-profit agencies that use paid staff to care for the teenagers. The kids are still classified as being in foster care but just not in a family. These resi kids are looked after by paid youth workers to play the role of foster carer.
“Thinking about them without any parents or family, not many other kids even with them, alone on Christmas Day after all they’ve been through, it broke me.
“So I decided to do something. I wanted to recognise that these children are individuals. I don’t want to buy group gifts or use generic donations. We find out what each one specifically wants and we do our best to get it. We spend about $100 per child.
“It’s lots of Nike and Adidas T-shirts and accessories this year. These kids all go to mainstream school and they don’t want to stand out, they don’t want Kmart stuff. They just want to fit in – and that’s the best gift we can give.”
Unfortunately, Jane’s job only grows every year.
While she started by buying gifts for six children in 2014, that number has since skyrocketed – especially since Covid hit.
From 300 children on her resicare list in 2019 to 427 in 2020 to now more than 500 children, it’s a struggle to
keep up … but Jane manages
with a team of volunteers and community grants.
But it’s still a staggering number of children in South East Queensland without a home to call their own for Christmas.
In fact, a recent auditor-general’s report identified a system under extreme pressure.
It found the number of children in residential care in Queensland had increased by 45 per cent – from 656 in 2013-14 to 951 in 2018-19. And in 2021, 500 of those are in the south east alone.
The report also found almost one third of children placed in residential care were younger than 12.
And Jane ensures that every child in resi-care in her region is remembered come Christmas.
“I think if someone told me I’d need to buy gifts for 500 children and start a charity (Christmas Presents for Kids in Care) to manage it all, I never could have done it,” she says.
“But it just grew over time … I started with just six children so that didn’t seem too daunting at all.
“Now it’s huge and takes over more than three months of my life – and my entire house – but I would never not do it.
“The worst part is just watching the numbers grow … not because it means more work for me, but because it means more children are struggling.
“Covid has been a brutal time for these children, the rates of domestic violence have increased as well as drug and alcohol use. It’s not been a safe environment for families on the edge.
“Even after all these years, my heart still breaks thinking about these kids taken away from their families for their own
safety and alone at Christmas. No one makes these decisions easily, this is truly the last resort.
“I’m in regular contact with the child safety officers and they are all doing the best they can. It’s a brutal job.
“I’m just grateful to live in a city like the Gold Coast where so many people care and contribute.”
When it comes to charity and generosity, this city is literally setting records.
Although Jane is responsible for that as well.
In 2020, she organised the first Guinness World Record attempt for Santas on jet skis, with more than 150 holidaythemed jet skis cruising the canals of the Gold Coast.
It was a sold-out event again this year, although a mid-cruise storm did dampen the mood for onlookers.
“Our family bought a jet ski a few years ago and I joined a local Facebook group and realised there were an awful lot of people on that page – more than 11,000.
“I realised if even a fraction of them donated to our charity it would be a huge help. Then I realised we could set a world record as well … and the rest is history.
“We raised more than $14,500 this year, which is incredible. To me, that’s what this city is about: flashy, fun and with a big heart.”
Now, as Christmas Day looms closer, Jane can finally relax.
And while she’ll spend December 25 with her own family, she’ll be thinking of the 500 children opening their special gifts.
“I don’t hand the gifts over personally, the children don’t know about the charity or who we are … that’s now what it’s about,” she says.
“We hand over all the gifts to the child safety officers and they distribute them across South East Queensland – each one for one specific child. It’s wonderful to give them the opportunity to give these gifts … they have such a tough job. It’s a gift to them in a way as well.
“They tell us that the gifts are just so appreciated by these children, and that’s all we want.
“Once you’re a teen in resicare, the most likely path is that you eventually age out of the system – after 18 they’re on their own. The state does as much as they can to prepare them – they’re given help to find jobs and housing, but it’s a tough road.
“I wish I could do more, but it gives me peace to know we can at least give them this one day.
“That’s my favourite part about Christmas … waking up and thinking about those kids opening their gifts, and knowing that they matter.”
It’s like an auction, with Jane as the silent bidder … quietly supporting the self-worth of these children.
To donate to Christmas Presents for Kids in Care: forkidsincare.org.au
It takes over more than three months of my life ... but I would never not do it