Passing crucial life skills down the line
Crystal Groves, a Joe Carter scholarship recipient, helps kids transition into adulthood
Crystal Groves first came into the care of the Children’s Aid Society in when she was made a crown ward at age 11, due to her mother’s terminal illness. The middle child, she was separated from both her younger and older sisters, and for the next 10 years, was shuffled in and out of a series of foster and group homes.
At 21, she finally left the system, and started making plans for her future. Although her time in care had ended, the problems that had plagued her childhood – including unstable living situations and financial challenges – didn’t immediately dissipate. She had reconnected with her sisters, but didn’t have the support of a family. Faced with the prospect of homelessness — somewhere between 40 and 60 per cent of children “aging out of care” end up without a place to live — she quickly had to learn how to make ends meet.
To support herself, Groves — who hadn’t yet finished high school — had to take on a full-time job. “Education fell on the backburner,” she says. Without the skills necessary to navigate her new life as an independent adult, she made some “horrible financial choices,” including racking up credit card debt.
It wasn’t until she officially “aged out of the system”— a term given to youth in care who have reached the age of 21, and are no longer eligible for funding — that she finally saved up enough to return to school, earning her high school diploma at an adult learning centre, and later a diploma in community and justice service.
“It took quite a bit of time for me to get my footing so I could pursue those other goals,” says Groves. “Aging out of the system is a very hard process.”
Now a third-year criminal justice student at Humber College, Groves is committed to helping others like herself who grew up in care and are now facing the challenges of adulthood. For the past 10 years, she’s been amember of the Pape Adolescent Resource Centre. As the centre’s financial literacy facilitator, she works with youth to teach them key financial management skills — those she lacked when she started out on her one, such as how to budget, price match, read credit card applications and contracts, and understand paystubs.
“Young people often come out of the system in a situation where they are lowincome, so teaching them those fine-tuned skills is crucial,” she says. “It’s such an empowering tool. For me, I didn’t have those life skills, so navigating those things was really challenging.”
In addition to her degree, Groves is completing training in crisis intervention and mental health, with the hopes of focusing her career on helping youth who have graduated from care. In addition to facing inconsistencies in housing and education, young people in care often come into conflict with the justice system and Groves says this is where she hopes to help. She aims to become a probation officer and later start her own non-profit.
“For me, it’s a way to catch people when they’re potentially exiting the system,” she explains. Much like the child welfare population, Groves believes the criminal justice population is often forgotten about. “I want to work with people who face very similar barriers and challenges to that of someone who grew up in child welfare.”
For Groves, the support of the Joe Carter Scholarship means that she can focus on her education, without redirecting her energies elsewhere. “Hopefully that domino impact of Joe Carter affecting my life means that I will be able to pass that along and impact other people,” she says. “For me, this is such a special, special gift.”
“It took quite a bit of time for me to get my footing so I could pursue those other goals.” CRYSTAL GROVES