It鈥檚 encouraging that the B.C. government plans to expand supports to young people who age out of foster care, but it would be even more encouraging if foster care didn鈥檛 automatically end at age 19. The transition should be gradual, with enough support to ensure good chances of success.
Several young people have taken their own lives recently after aging out of the child-welfare system. Those cases grab public attention. However, there are thousands of others who have not taken their own lives, but live in miserable circumstances because they are ill-prepared to meet the challenges of the adult world.
Expecting a person to step from government care to successful independence simply because she or he turns 19 is not only unrealistic, it is heartless.
The Ministry of Children and Family Development has a program called Agreements With Young Adults that provides living expenses for up to two years for former foster children, up to the age of 24, who are attending school, learning job skills or completing rehabilitation. It is not automatic 鈥� former foster children must apply for the program and must be in a specific program.
Children鈥檚 Minister Stephanie Cadieux says the government is expanding the program so more young people can get its support for longer periods of time. She didn鈥檛 offer details, but said an announcement would be made this month.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the representative for children and youth, has criticized the Agreements With Young Adults program, saying it is not helping vulnerable teens. She says only 11 of B.C.鈥檚 3,500 former foster children under the age of 24 are collecting money through the program.
She says foster-care supports should be automatically extended beyond the age of 19.
鈥淔ew parents 鈥� would mark their son or daughter鈥檚 19th birthday by walking them to the front door of the family home, shaking their hand, wishing them 鈥榞ood luck鈥� and then ushering them outside,鈥� she said in On Their Own: Examining the Needs of B.C. Youth as They Leave Government Care, a report delivered to the legislature in April 2014.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 essentially what happens to many youth in the care of B.C.鈥檚 Ministry of Children and Family Development.
鈥淭hese youth have different life experiences than many of their B.C. counterparts. Many of them have had adverse experiences which can affect their social, emotional, cognitive and physical development and, as a result, many have fallen behind their non-care peers.
鈥淎long with those struggles, youth leaving care are often without the family support system that can provide the financial, instructional and emotional base necessary to make the often-difficult transition from dependent to independence.鈥�
Cadieux says she doesn鈥檛 believe all those aging out of foster care want or need automatic support, and perhaps she鈥檚 right, but that should be determined by careful assessment, not by a birthday.
Extending supports would be money well invested. An Ontario study that examined extending support to youth in care from age 21 to 25 suggested that for every $1 spent, the government would save or have returned in income taxes $1.36 over each person鈥檚 lifetime.
Children in stable families are generally not cast adrift abruptly to fend for themselves. Most get some sort of assistance from their parents as they gradually gain independence.
It should be no different for foster children. The government should, as Turpel-Lafond says, 鈥渄o what any prudent parent would do 鈥� provide the necessary planning, support, advice and resources to give that child the best possible chance of success.鈥�
