In a recent article on The Conversation, the authors emphasize the need for building connections for creating sustained success for youth from foster care:
Youth in Canada’s child welfare system need stronger government leadership to improve educational outcomes. Fewer than half of youth who have spent time in foster care — known as care-experienced youth — complete high school and even fewer attend or complete post-secondary education.
These educational gaps can have lasting consequences for the life chances of care-experienced youth, including higher rates of unemployment, poverty, homelessness, criminalization and other longstanding disparities.
The Senate’s Standing Committee on Human Rights recently released the report Nothing to Celebrate: The Crisis of Youth Aging Out of Care. This report is a much-needed national call to action. It sets out eight concrete recommendations to address the health, social, economic and educational disparities faced by care-experienced youth.
Yet a key question remains: In a child welfare system marked by jurisdictional divisions, will care-experienced youth see the needed action to improve their life chances, including equitable access to educational opportunities?
