Isabel, now 18, and her younger sisters went into care when she was nine years old, moving in with their grandparents in a kinship care placement.

She is optimistic about the future, having recently finished her last exams.

“I’m excited to be treated as an adult and see where it will take me,” the Reynella East College student said.

Isabel is among more than 170 young people in care, or who have recently left care, studying Year 12 this year.

These young people have been invited to a ceremony at Government House, where attendees will receive a certificate to recognise them completing Year 12.

Isabel hopes to study criminology at either Flinders or Adelaide University, her motivation spawned by watching TV crime shows and also developing an interest in reading true crime stories.

Time will tell if she is accepted into the course after a challenging year at school – but in any case, Isabel understands she has options.

“If I’m not able to get into uni this year I’m planning to take a gap year and sit a test the following year to get in,” she said.

Isabel, who lives with a friend and his mother, is also keeping busy with a part time job in the kitchen at a southern suburbs nursing home.

“You get to hear a lot of older people’s stories,” she said.

“There’s one resident that I talk to quite often when I’m working, and we normally talk about when she was in the Defence Force and about her children and grandchildren. She’s 101 this year.”

The Department for Child Protection funded Isabel’s travel costs for a school trip to Japan this year, where students visited temples and festivals. It was part of their studies of the Japanese language.

Isabel still spends plenty of time with her sisters, but is enjoying the transition into adulthood and living in a quieter home than the busy one she grew up in.

“The most noise at night comes from the cat!” said Isabel, who receives post-care support from Relationships Australia South Australia (RASA).

The Department for Child Protection offers programs supporting young people who remain in family-based placements after they turn 18.

Stability in Family-Based Care provides basic carer payments until the the young person turns 21, and the Over 18 Education Initiative provides basic carer payments and an education allowance until the young person turns 25.