Governments and agencies look at support past age 18
For many youth in Canada’s foster systems turning 18 represents the end of the strongest support system they’ve ever had. A report released April 10 by Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate highlights the problems youth in care face when they “age-out” or transition to legal adulthood.
The report Where do we go from here? says children in foster care are poorly prepared for independence; in addition to having few practical life skills funding and resources for foster children change dramatically when they turn 18.
This is the eighth time the child advocate has reported on the issue since the position was created in 1997. To its credit the Human Services Ministry and its predecessors have been proactive over the past decade helping children in care become successful adults.
Instead of immediately forcing them out of care the government now pays room and board for youths who want to remain in foster homes as tenants with the consent of their foster parents. Youths may also live independently and receive financial aid up to the age of 22. Yet in both scenarios funding is much lower than what they receive before they turn 18 and hinges on the youth attending a post-secondary or training program. Improving the transition to adulthood has been slow.
“To date neither the repeated efforts of the [Office of the Child and Youth Advocate] to elevate the issue nor the responses from government to address the issues surrounding young people leaving care have been effective” the report says adding young adults leaving care are still desperate for increased resources better access to those resources and long-term connections to supportive adults.
Alberta Child and Youth Advocate Del Graff explains an in interview that another major problem is that even where funding and programs to ease the transition exist youth are unaware of what is available or how to get it. Their caseworkers are also overburdened and not always familiar with the entire 1038 pages of the policy manual outlining their duties.
“Certainly that’s one challenge and it’s a significant one” Graff says. Youths leaving care “struggle with things like basic skill development. You know looking after their own needs cooking skills cleaning — all of those kinds of skill areas that are part of growing up…. We can’t expect caseworkers who have full caseloads etc. to deal with the needs of these older young people off the side of their desk.”
Youth support specialists Lauri Comoli and Kendra Gall at Calgary’s non-profit Alex Youth Health Centre say they believe caseworkers and other professionals tasked with caring for these youth are often so focused on managing crises that imparting life skills is rarely a priority.
“They’re dealing with just putting out fires instead of being proactive and preparing people for the rest of their life” says Gall.
Governments around the world are struggling to help youths aging out of the child welfare system live independently. Every province and territory in Canada has extended financial aid past the age of 18 generally to 21 though some provinces offer it up to 24 years of age and Ontario’s Advocate for Children and Youth suggests offering child welfare funding for people until they are 25.
Even with more funding Ontario’s advocate says that without ensuring youth have life skills such as how to handle money personal health obtaining employment and stable housing aging-out can be considered a “pipeline to the streets.”
Its own recent report on the subject 25 is the new 21 states that “there is clear evidence that when Crown wards transition from care they do not do as well as other young adults. They are less likely to have a high school diploma to pursue higher education or to earn a living wage. They are more likely to experience economic hardships to be homeless to struggle with mental health challenges and to become involved with the criminal justice system.”
Child welfare professionals in government and the non-profit sector are now focused on providing more comprehensive support such as counselling and life skills.
Comoli and Gall are engaged in a three-year pilot project funded by the United Way to help at-risk youth reconnect with family members and build relationships with adults apart from the caseworkers and fellow foster children they sometimes identify as family figures.
“A healthy adult that we want surrounding the kids that we work with is someone they can call if they want to celebrate or if they need $50 or if they need a ride or want to vent or get a good mark in school” says Gall.
Both women agree it’s vital for transitioning youths to build relationships with family members rather than leaving them to rely on caseworkers who may be dealing with 25 children or on peers who also grew up in care. In the meantime the Alex Youth Health Centre attempts to provide them with comprehensive help.
“We go to people’s houses we cook dinner with them we take them shopping to visit their family. We have an addictions group we have a parenting group there’s a psychiatrist a psychologist a massage therapist” Gall says.
One area that is not improving fast enough is the supply of affordable housing. The reports from Alberta and Ontario point out that even with extended financial aid most youth leaving care cannot afford safe consistent housing.
Comoli says that the Alex saw 2800 youths in total last year. Of those only 30 to 40 per cent have stable housing. Without a place to live employment education health and supportive relationships are much less likely.
The Alberta report recommends Human Services guarantee housing for transitioning youth. It also proposes the government focus on creating a “seamless” transition process training caseworkers to handle the transition and ensuring resources including specialized health care and counselling don’t change when a child in care turns 18.
