Helping the kids

On Lindsay’s 18th birthday, she woke up in her foster care home and promptly moved to a student rooming house. That’s because under policy set by the Ontario government, the payments her foster care family received to support her dried up the moment she turned 18. It didn’t matter that she was still in Grade 12.

Understandably, her grades dropped and she didn’t graduate from Grade 12 that year.

Lindsay is just one example of what happens to kids in foster care when they are arbitrarily cut off from the foster families who have been caring for them.

But as of this past week, that won’t happen to teens like Lindsay anymore. Under smart and long-overdue policy changes, funding to foster families will continue until Crown wards who are still in high school turn 21.

That is good news for the 3,400 young people between 18 and 21 who could be eligible for the extra support. They are often still in high school when they reach18 because of the emotional and physical disruptions they have faced in their lives.

In fact, as reported by the Star’s Laurie Monsebraaten, just 46 per cent of Ontario children in foster care and group homes complete high school compared with about 84 per cent of their peers with permanent families. As a result, they are more likely as adults to be poor, homeless, suffer mental health problems and be involved in the criminal justice system.

Four other policy changes announced by Children and Youth Services Minister Tracy MacCharles should also make the lives of Ontario’s 64,00 Crown wards easier.

To help more of these young people find permanent families, the province announced it will spend $4.9 million over three years to support adoption recruiters.

As well, subsidies available to families who adopt kids between the ages of10 and18 will now be available for those aged 8 to 21. Further, those subsidies will be increased to $12,400 from $11,400 per child, while the income threshold for receiving them will rise to $93,700 from $85,000.

These are both welcome changes for the kids and money-saving moves for the province. Subsidies for adoptive families amount to only about 60 per cent of the average cost that Children’s Aid Societies pay foster parents in Ontario. As well, research shows that children and teens who grow up in permanent homes are more likely to graduate from high school, hold a job and contribute to their communities.

It’s not just the right thing for the province to give these kids a helping hand. It’s a fiscally prudent move that will make a big difference in their lives as they become adults.

New support for teens in foster care is a smart move