00:00Joelle Pressenkewler's got a few tattoos, but two are special.
00:06I've got an A for my daughter's name here.
00:09She got her two daughters' initials just after she secured housing, something she doesn't
00:15take for granted.
00:16When I open that door and I take a look around, I'm like, wow, this is mine.
00:21I love it.
00:22Joelle was five when she first became homeless, couch surfing with her mum and three younger
00:28siblings.
00:29I just had no idea what was going on.
00:31I had no idea what was going on, so mum received a support worker and I just was kind of, you
00:37know, in the background, I was never really asked, how do you need assistance?
00:43She went through homelessness several more times as a young person.
00:47I feel like if I had specialist support when I was a child experiencing homelessness, I
00:51may not have experienced reoccurring homelessness that I did.
00:56A new program in Melbourne's outer east is doing just that, linking kids with a specialist
01:02worker.
01:03She actually has those private conversations with the children.
01:07The program's been running for about six months and helped about 15 kids aged 6 to 16.
01:14First of all, to find some words for their feelings, things like, well, I was really
01:19sad when I left a particular school.
01:21I didn't have my school uniform and so I couldn't go to school because school said that I have
01:25to have my uniform on.
01:27It can also be tough for even younger kids.
01:30Over four years, there were at least 410 children under five, including babies, at Melbourne
01:37City Mission's Youth Homelessness Refuges with their parents.
01:4135 babies were born into refuges in the past year.
01:45It's a huge oversight.
01:48Melbourne City Mission is relying on philanthropy to fund an early childhood worker.
01:53To support their safety needs, their wellbeing needs, their physical needs, developmental
01:58needs.
01:59The Federal Government is developing a National Housing and Homelessness Plan with the states
02:04and territories.
02:05These groups are urging them to include the needs of very young children.
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