Foster care in B. C.

More than two- thirds of youth in care in B. C. will reach age 19 without a high school diploma.

For the four years up to 2013, no youth in continuing foster care has written the Math 12 provincial exam.

Just 121 youth in continuing foster care wrote the Grade 12 English exam during the 2010- 2011 school year, compared to 44,486 other students.

Average post- secondary tuition in B. C. is $ 4,100 — about one- quarter of the annual costs for a postsecondary student not living at home.

The Youth Education and Assistance Fund ( YEAF) provides kids who were in permanent care with bursaries that partly cover post- secondary education. Each person up to age 24 is eligible for four annual bursaries of up to $ 5,500, once per year, for tuition, books, fees or living expenses, while studying at designated schools. Since 2002, 1,350 young people have accessed YEAF funding, while about 7,700 would have been eligible.

The Agreements with Young Adults funding covers living expenses for up to 24 months for former foster kids up to age 24 who are attending school, learning job and life skills, or completing a rehabilitation program. More than 1,700 youth have accessed this funding since it was introduced in 2008. Over the same period, 3,500 young adults would have aged out of care, and another 3,500 would have already ‘ aged out’ and still be younger than 24. On average, a young person on an Agreement with Young Adults receives about $ 1,000 a month. The entire program is capped at $ 5 million annually, which means there isn’t nearly enough funding to cover every youth who ‘ ages out’. If they were previously on a Youth Agreement, they could also receive $ 3,000 to $ 5,000 a year in tuition support.