The transition to adulthood is a time of trial and error for any young person. Stepping away from your adolescent support system and into adulthood is hard work that takes many years and many helping hands to get right, and every young person can expect to stumble now and again while navigating through those years.
But for far too many of the 850 or so young people who transition out of government care or a youth agreement in B.C. every year, turning 19 can be the start of a frightening solo journey into the unknown – one that their experiences in government care have left them particularly poorly prepared for.
This report is about those youth. It’s about good intentions gone unrealized, and systems that look much better on paper than in reality. It’s about supports that are notoriously scarce, inequitable, rigid, and a poor fit for so many of the diverse young people who turn 19 while in government care. It’s about practice and policy that are out of line with current research, and the ongoing legacy of colonization on new generations of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and Urban Indigenous youth, who are 17 times more likely to be in government care in B.C. than non-Indigenous youth.
And it’s also about the incredible and resilient youth who make this difficult journey. So much of their life experiences and time in government care deny them the opportunities and connections that we know are essential to support children in reaching their potential, and yet many succeed anyway. Their stories have informed this work, as have those of the far too many youth lost along the way.
The compiled data and research here tell stories of higher rates of homelessness, less educational attainment, less attachment to the workforce, lower rates of income and poorer mental health among youth leaving care and transitioning to adulthood as compared to their non-care peers.
This report calls on government to enact comprehensive and lasting change for the young people in its care as they transition into adulthood. This report looks at what is known about outcomes for young people in care transitioning into adulthood, with particular focus on the over-involvement of the child welfare system in the lives of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and Urban Indigenous children and youth in care. The report also examines current policies and programs for young people transitioning into adulthood in B.C.
The report highlights research on how best to support youth in this transition to adulthood. It looks at how that support can align with research-based practices supporting youth in this transition and examine costs and cost benefits as well as how some other jurisdictions are addressing this issue. The report concludes with recommendations on how to better support young people leaving care in British Columbia.
