Out-of-home care ends for many young people at 18, but there’s a push around Australia to extend it to age 21

Shelley Farmer remembers growing up in out-of-home care as a tumultuous and, at times, traumatic experience.

“I remember there was a lot of people, a lot of badges, a lot of white cars, a lot of flash offices that we were put into and had to play with certain toys while adults spoke,” she said.

“There really isn’t a time I could recall someone saying, ‘What would you like to do? Where do you feel safest?'”

The now 24-year-old Noongar woman lives in…