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CANADA IS FALLING BEHIND OTHER COUNTRIES IN MEETING THE NEEDS OF FORMER YOUTH IN
CARE

Derek Neary Mar 12, 2024 1:20 PM Mar 12, 2024 1:26 PM
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Recent OECD data indicate that people who have had experience in care as
children have worse mental health, greater levels of homelessness, higher
incarceration rates and higher rates of suicide. Pixabay photo

Can we do better in Canada to meet the needs of former youth in care?

Young adults across Canada continue to struggle with the high cost of living.
Statistics Canada highlights a 20-year trend of Canadians aged 20-34 remaining
in their familial home with at least one parent.

In contrast, young adults aging out of government care (those with lived
experience in child welfare systems) are expected to rapidly transition to
adulthood much earlier, many without the support of their families.

OECD data

While Canada is among 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) working toward developing policy standards
in relation to economic development, Canada is failing to meet the social,
educational and economic realities facing people with lived experience in child
welfare systems.

Recent OECD data indicate that people who have had experience in care as
children have worse mental health, greater levels of homelessness, higher
incarceration rates and higher rates of suicide.

Collectively, these indicators suggest the need for greater attention to youth
leaving care. In particular, we need to do better at evaluating which types of
interventions provide for positive long-term effects on youth’s education,
mental health and employment after they leave care.

Available data suggest Canada is falling behind other countries in terms of
meeting the unique needs of former youth in care.

This has direct implications for the individuals, their communities and the
economy, and yet we continue to see a patchwork approach taken by the federal
and provincial governments.

Patchwork approaches

Existing aging-out-of-care policies continue to have very real consequences for
youth, including barriers to access to education, employment and housing — all
of which are key determinants of health.



The consequences of continued inaction will inevitably result in worse health,
social, economic and other life outcomes for thousands of people.

These consequences will be felt for generations, with many former youth in care
experiencing continued cycles of poverty.

Worse labour market outcomes

We know that many former youth in care have intersecting experiences and
identities. Many face adversity or oppression related to class, gender identity,
sexual orientation or racism that can limit their life chances and attainment in
terms of education, employment and health outcomes.

Former youth in care are more likely to be from groups that have worse
educational and labour market outcomes to begin with, and youth who are from
Black, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ populations remain over-represented in care
systems.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given these disadvantages and lack of opportunities
afforded to youth with experience in care, former youth in care are more likely
to be involved in criminal activity, particularly for those placed by agencies
in group care settings.

Given that individuals with criminal records, particularly women and Indigenous
applicants, can find it almost impossible to find work, this can lead to a life
of economic dependence on social welfare services.

Quality education?

In terms of Canada’s standing in relation to United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 1 (no
poverty) and SDG 3 (good health and well-being) is also at issue.

The UNSDG data indicates that education is widely regarded as a key factor in
mitigating the impacts of experiences in care as well as other related childhood
traumas.

Our recently published review of research about barriers to post-secondary
education among former youth in care found that more attention is needed in the
intersecting system-level factors that impact access to education. These
barriers include poverty, as well as adverse health and well-being. Many of
these circumstances begin in care, and well before high school or post-secondary
studies.

Barriers to post-secondary study

Of the 58 studies that met our inclusion criteria, the majority cite issues of
highly variable requirements for funding supports for post-secondary education.
These variables include:

-differing provincial and institutional age caps

-verification processes to determine who is eligible

-limitations on program duration

-eligible program types and level of study

These varied requirements limit financial supports, and can result in financial
gaps.

Many studies noted the need for greater attention to how existing policies may
inadvertently exclude former youth in care.

A focus on trauma-informed policy approaches, including a greater level of
psycho-social supports in higher education, is urgently needed.

As noted in research we covered, once youth age out of care, they are expected
to find their way in an adult world that often renders them invisible.

Need to track and monitor youth

To fully understand and address the interconnected and systemic issues facing
former youth in care, Canada needs to focus on tracking, monitoring and
evaluating the economic, health and social outcomes of these youth. This is the
case especially as they transition from government care into adulthood.

As it now stands, Canada’s national statistics agency and most provincial
agencies do not provide the longitudinal data needed to systematically track
after-care outcomes like education, employment, income and health among people
with experience in child welfare systems.

This in turn makes it highly challenging to know which types of policies,
programs and supports are truly meeting the needs of former youth in care. It
also makes it difficult to know which are helping Canada achieve its commitments
to the SDGs and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

—By Jacquie Gahagan, full professor and associate vice-president, research,
Mount Saint Vincent University; Dale Kirby, professor, faculty of education,
Memorial University of Newfoundland; Kristyn Anderson, PhD candidate (health),
Dalhousie University; and Steven Smith, professor of psychology, Saint Mary’s
University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative
Commons licence.



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