Experts call for child protection system reform
Current system sets youth up for failure, says Steve Gaetz
The world has changed a lot in the past few decades, says Steve Gaetz, but Canada’s child protection laws don’t reflect that.
The York University professor and director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness said the lack of supports for young people transitioning from care to adult systems can be directly linked to youth homelessness.
Gaetz was in St. John’s Monday to make a case for reform of child protection laws alongside Sheldon Pollett of Choices For Youth and Melanie Redman of A Way Home. The three presented to a group of provincial advocates for children and youth.
“In most provinces, the age at which care ends is 18, and that might have made sense in 1950 or 1960 when people dropped out of high school, you could get a job at a factory, get enough money to buy a house or rent a house, that kind of thing, and move on in your life.
“But those days are long gone. Now people stay in school much longer. The dropout rate is less than nine per cent. It was like 30 per cent in the 1980s,” he said.
Gaetz said 42.3 per cent of young Canadians aged 20-29 are living with their parents these days, and two major contributors to that statistic are the high cost of housing and a lack of jobs. Youths leaving the child protection system face the same barriers, but are on their own.
“Here we have a child protection system in place where at 18, you basically get: ‘Happy birthday. Here’s a card. Here’s all your clothes in a bag.’ And so we set young people up, really, to fail. What we’re asking is to have a summit to identify how to change that,” he said.
Monday’s presentation — like meetings Gaetz and Redman have held across the country — urged the advocates to collaborate in organizing a summit on the issue next year that would allow experts to come up with model reforms provinces could then adapt.
“And what that doesn’t necessarily mean is extending the age of group homes and foster care to 24, but we are saying that there should be supports for young people when they leave. In Europe they call it the aftercare guarantee. What that means is the state takes on the role of the parent for the young person, and they’re obliged to continue care until that young person transitions to adulthood and stability.”
In such a system, governments would help young people stay in school, and offer supports, until they’re about 24 or 25 — with the ability to opt in or out. It will cost money, but it’s an investment that will pay off, he said.
“Our belief is that if you don’t invest in young people when they’re at that age, 18-24, then you potentially are creating a whole group of people (who may become) homeless. They may become homeless adults. They most certainly won’t be competitive in the labour market.”
Gaetz said based on research done in Toronto, somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent of homeless youth have come from foster care or group homes.
“The link is irrefutable. If someone tells you it’s not a link, they’re wrong. The research is very strong on this,” he said.
“From a policy level, it’s actually very fortunate when you can identify that here, this area here, is creating this problem over here. Here’s one where we can actually see the pipeline, so we can actually do something about it.”