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Early School Leavers Program
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From 2025 to 2026, YDAS ran a program for disabled young people who are leaving or have left school early.

This program is now closed. As of 5 November 2026, our Early School Leavers program is closed to referrals or sign-ups. We will be supporting referrals and participants who signed up before this date, and all participants will be closed by 24 December 2026.

The following organisations and services can help you or your child or young school leaver:
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What was the program?

YDAS delivered the Early School Leavers program, supporting disabled young people to find and/or stay engaged with education or employment. 

The program provided: 

  • 1:1 support with a qualified youth worker 
  • Help overcoming barriers and establishing goals 
  • Support advocating for access needs where you study or work 
  • Activities to build confidence, skills and disability pride 
  • Discretionary funds to aid education/employment goals 

The program was delivered online or in person, depending on the participant’s access needs 

We delivered in person at:  

The program was facilitated by the Transitions Officer: 

  • The Transitions Officer was a proudly disabled person and had years of experience supporting young people.  
  • They had lived experience of facing and overcoming barriers at school and at work. 
  • They were passionate about ensuring that disabled young people are listened to and supported to create the future they want. 

Who are early school leavers?

Please go the Victorian Early Leaver Connection Initiative | vic.gov.au for more details, but broadly they are

  • Young people (aged 12 – 20 years)  
  • Who left school before completing Year 12 or are doing VCE or the Victorian Pathways Certificate at a TAFE

The staff of YDAS that ran this project were all qualified youth workers. They had training and experience in youth work, mental health first aid, trauma-informed practice, child and young people safeguarding and a range of identity and cultural safety practices. You can learn more about YDAS here.

This program was funded by the Victorian Department of Education. We work with the Department and regulatory frameworks to ensure safe, successful delivery of our programs. You can learn more about the Victorian Early Leaver Connection Initiative here.

We have a privacy policy that explains how we use any information we collect. You can view our privacy policy here.

We have a feedback and complaints policy. We encourage you to give us feedback or make a complaint by going to this page.

We are a child safe organisation. You can learn about how we safeguard children and young people’s safety here.

For disabled young people

This program was for disabled young people who left school before finishing year 12.
We helped them with study, training or work.
We work at Youth Disability Advocacy Service (YDAS).

YDAS still helps people with study, training or work in our other programs.
We are youth workers. We are disabled too.
We try to help you as much as possible.

Go to our page for disabled young people to see what programs and information we have for you.

Go to our Individual Advocacy page to see if we can help you with your right to work, training or study.

Disabled means anyone who is:

    • A disabled person
    • A person with a disability
    • A long-term chronic illness or health condition
    • Neurodivergent (like autistic, ADHD, etc.)
    • Blind or have low vision
    • Deaf, deaf, or hard of hearing
    • Mental health issues

At YDAS, you do not need a diagnosis.

This means:

  • Your school talked to you about leaving early
  • The principal filled out an exemption form
  • You got permission to leave school early

You can learn more at this page by the Department of Education.

You can also learn more at this page by YouthLaw. It is more plain.

For family, carers and supporters

Thank you for your interest in our Early Leavers program. As a parent, guardian, family member, carer or supporter of a disabled young person, we know you are passionate and motivated to support them. We have kept information about YDAS and this former program above to help you find ways to support the young person in your life. You can still access help via Victorian Early Leaver Connection Initiative | vic.gov.au. Their programming was designed with research the Department of Education has gathered about what disabled young people need to be successful in the early school leaver process.

YDAS staff always prefer that the disabled young people we work with lead the way on their support and advocacy. 

You can help the young person in your life in the following ways:

  • Support them to fill out the sign-up forms to programs by offering to read it out, transcribe or note take, or just be a sounding board and motivator. You can also suggest they contact the service for help directly.
  • You can contact services to support your child into a program, or about any concerns, feedback or complaints you might have. Services want to hear from the whole community and should strive to do the best they can. Your input is always appreciated.
  • Respect or seek to understand any changes to language, identity, goals or other parts of their life that they may reconsider or think about as a result of a program or their life journey. This page on disability pride might be a useful resource for you.
  • Give the young person in your life space and independence to participate in a program on their own terms. You can be a fantastic ally and even access support for them during a program, and at school, TAFE or the workplace.
  • Check in with them to see how they are going with a program or their Early Leaver journey. This can include offering your own support or just asking curious questions and showing you are interested.

We have a privacy policy that explains how we use any information we collect. You can view our privacy policy here.

We have a feedback and complaints policy. We encourage you to give us feedback or make a complaint by going to this page.

We are a child safe organisation. You can learn about how we safeguard children and young people’s safety here.

For workers, educators and employers

YDAS can help Career Advice Services and Targeted Supports as part of our general systemic and sector support:  

  • Providing training on inclusive practice so you can better identify and support the needs of early school leavers you work with, helping you to meet the requirements of your Early Leavers project plan and deliverables  
  • Peer-reviewing your communication materials and approach for accessibility 
  • Promoting your CAS or TS service through YDAS networks 

These are available pending capacity, funding and resources, but please reach out.

You are welcome to contact YDAS for general advice or support. We may not be able to give you specific information about the young person you are working with, as we must respect and follow privacy and other laws that restrict what information we can share. We also want to maintain and respect the trust we build with our participants.

With that in mind, here are some resources and links that could be helpful:

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