Do more for youth in care who turn 19, report urges
Turning 19 is an exciting milestone for most young people, but for those in foster care, it can be a birthday filled with dread.
It's the age when government support for youth in care comes to an end and they're left to navigate the adult welfare system. More than 800 youths in government care turn 19 each year.
“These young people are expected to go from child to adult in a mere 24 hours,” said Jennifer Charlesworth, B.C.'s representative for children and youth.
“We've got research and reports going back years in B.C. that have said over and over again that the abrupt end of government care is wrong — it's wrong for human development, wrong for the future health of our province, wrong in terms of cost-effectiveness.”
On Tuesday, Charlesworth released yet another report on young people aging out of care, called A Parent's Duty: Government's Obligation to Youth Transitioning into Adulthood. It's the 10th report on this topic produced in B.C. in the last six years, and the fifth from the representative for children and youth.
Young people who come from backgrounds that include government care are disproportionately at risk of homelessness, unemployment, poor mental health, lower education levels, poverty, and substance use.
Almost two-thirds of children and youth in care are Indigenous.
“Becoming an adult takes years, and supports need to be both flexible and forgiving during this important transition,” said Charlesworth. “There's no question that young people transitioning out of government care are actively harmed by their abrupt and artificial 24-hour transition to adulthood.”
To mitigate that harm, Charlesworth's report outlines seven recommendations for the provincial government that she would like to see implemented, for the most part, by April 2022.
They include extending and improving transition planning that starts no later than the day a young person turns 14 and continues past age 19, and having dedicated youth transition workers to provide support and guidance up to age 27.
Charlesworth said the planning would engage youth as “true partners,” be developmentally appropriate, and for Indigenous youth would support reclamation of culture and identity.
Charlesworth said B.C. has introduced some promising measures, including the tuition waiver program and the Agreements with Young Adults program, which provides financial support and medical benefits. However, since few meet the criteria, the report recommends automatically enrolling all people transitioning from care in the AYA program on their 19th birthday, lasting until they turn 27.
“No matter how you look at the numbers, the vast majority of eligible young people are not benefiting from the program,” Charlesworth said.
Extending voluntary residential care, which was done as a temporary measure because of the pandemic, and providing dedicated housing for youth aging out of care and mental health and substance use services are also among the recommendations.
Data collection and service evaluation also need to be improved.
“Our system of care shouldn't be something that has to be survived. It should provide flexible, diverse and humane support — trauma-informed, culturally appropriate, and all of it resolutely focused on helping a young person figure out life as an adult,” Charlesworth said.
The report was well-received by those who work with young people.
“The recommendations were bang on. They really covered the need for earlier planning, cohesive planning for young folks that continues well past their 19th birthday,” said Sarah Stewart, executive director of Aunt Leah's Place, which works with youth in and from government care.
Adrienne Montani, provincial co-ordinator for First Call B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, called the report powerful and important.
“All of the seven recommendations ring really true to us. All of them matter,” she said.
Minister of Children and Family Development Mitzi Dean agreed with Charlesworth that changes are needed to support youth and young adults who are in and have left care, and said the province is working to make those changes happen.