The other day I was contacted by a young girl in care. She told me her worker had suggested she message me on Facebook. She told me a story of horrors about her former foster home, She said she witnessed what she termed beatings. She said, “we were locked in our rooms from the outside when we went to bed at night”. I was not surprised, but these accounts never cease to both sadden and anger me.
The experiences of this young girl might be unbelievable except for the fact that they are not isolated experiences. I remembered the investigation my former Office undertook into homes the very same company ran in another part of the Province after which the homes were closed.
What was unbelievable about what this youth was telling me was that her worker had told her “I am sorry we can’t do anything about the foster home because our agency does not run it”. This young girl took it upon herself to write to the Executive Director of her Children’s Aid Society. She explained who she was. She eloquently wrote about her experiences in the home and what she witnessed. She asked that something be done for no other children to be placed in the home. What was unbelievable was that this youth in care received a form email from the agency telling her that her email would be considered by Intake. That’s it.
This is why a Youth in Care Day was created.
You may know that Youth in Care Day was created by the Ontario Legislature by unanimously passing a Private Members Bill presented by former MPP Soo Wong. Soo had attended the Youth Leaving Care Hearings held by young people in and from care at the Leg. She had read the report young people wrote after their hearings “My Real Lifebook”. One of the demands of the young writers was the creation of a day every year that would honour the strength and courage of children in care and act as a catalyst for change in the systems that serve them. The other demand was “fundamental change” in the way that children were cared for or not cared for, more to the point, in what we call “child welfare”
The Legislature in its wisdom set every May 14th as Child and Youth in Care Day. May 14th was the day My Real Lifebook was released.
Much has changed in the ten years since My Real Lifebook.
We have 60 plus Youth in Transition Workers across the Province. Youth in foster home scan stay in the home past 18 years of age to complete their year in high school. Youth in care don’t have to change schools if they are moved outside of the school’s catchment area. Youth in and from care are exempt from tuition at Ontario’s post-secondary institutions – oh wait this was cut back by the current government. There are fine words now in the Child Youth and Family Services Act. Language about “meaningful participation”. Language about “child centred service”
Much has changed yet everything in many ways has stayed the same.
There were seven themes in My Real Lifebook
- We are isolated
- We are vulnerable
- We are left out of our own lives
- No one is there for us
- Care is unpredictable
- Care ends and we struggle
- We keep losing ourselves
Sadly, this still describes the lives of far too many children in care today
The First Voice Advocates knew that “fundamental change” was required.
The fundamental shift in the system that would prevent a child calling to talk about the horrors of her foster home from going unheard. The kind of change where standards of care, true care, were developed and implemented intentionally by those in charge – government and system leaders. Right now, there are no standards of care.
The kind of change that can only be led by young people themselves. They have led us this far. Let’s follow where they lead.