Ms Rachael Murphy:

We are lucky that the ages covered by youth work are ten to 24. Youth justice projects go up to 24 as well, so young people do not age out at 18. They are allowed to make a gradual transition. The whole idea of youth work is to enable young people to make the transition from childhood to adulthood. However, as we all know, adulthood does not automatically start at 18 and young people are now not finishing school until they are 19. Luckily youth work has the flexibility to go beyond the age of 18. It does not just kick them out.