{"id":1200,"date":"2020-05-14T08:13:39","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T13:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2020-05-14T09:36:44","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T14:36:44","slug":"deeds-not-words-an-open-letter-to-ontarians-on-youth-in-care-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/14\/deeds-not-words-an-open-letter-to-ontarians-on-youth-in-care-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Deeds Not Words An Open Letter To Ontarians On Youth In Care Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Deeds Not Word<\/strong>s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Open Letter to Ontarians On Youth in Care Day, May 14, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irwin Elman ( Former Ontario Child Advocate 2007-2019, Global Advisor Until The Last Child, Laidlaw Fellow, Laidlaw Foundation <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c This pandemic is a real test of our mental toughness and resilience\u201d said the young girl living in foster care who was participating about child protection and Covid-19.  It was a poignant comment coming from a child who has already had to live a life requiring a mental toughness that hopefully few of us will ever have to call upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 14th is Youth In Care Day in Ontario.   In 2011 as Ontario\u2019s Child Advocate my Office the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth supported a group of youth in and from care of Childrens Aid Societies across Ontario to hold their own hearings around creating better outcomes for children in care.  The Hearings rocked Queens Park personally affecting the MLAs and Legislative Assembly staff who attended.  Demonstrating possibility for the way in which hearings could be held.  Over 700 young people, caregivers, professionals came to witness the testimony provided to Youth Committee Members by Ministers, Opposition Critics, Deputy Ministers, professionals, caregivers and of course young people in and from care. After the Hearings the young people involved wrote a report about what they had heard.  The report \u201cMy Real Lifebook\u201d is a seminal document on life in care.  Im biased I know but I recommend it to you.  My Real Lifebook called for \u201cfundamental change\u201d in child protection.  It also asked for what was termed a \u201cquick win\u201d \u2013 a day set aside by the Legislature of Ontario to honour children in care, to acknowledge their struggles and for the government of the day to recommit to being a better parent.  In its wisdom the Legislature chose every May 14th, the day My Real Lifebook was released, and unanimously passed legislation to create the day. (Soo Wong MPP brought forward the Private Members Bill for this purpose)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here we are.  We know that children in care come into care through no fault of their own. The state has decided that they are unsafe at home and have suffered \u201cemotional, physical, sexual abuse or neglect\u201d We know when this happens the government of our Ontario is responsible for the well being of these children in care and their future on behalf of all Ontarians.  We know children once in care move from home to home to home.  We know they continue to move from worker to worker to worker.  We know children in care feel voiceless and invisible.  We know those who eventually find a source of caring, stability and love in the system feel they have found this through good fortune rather than good planning.  We know this because children in care have told us so.  Over and over they have told us so.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that Indigenous and Black children are overrepresented in the child protection system.  We know that our child protection system, our government, removes children from their families and communities, promises them love and caring, (far too often an empty promise) and at 18 years of age or at most at 21 years of age, jettisons them out of the system, \u201coff a cliff\u201d as described by young people, alone and unprepared.  We know this to be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all of us the pandemic and our public health response to it has meant a host of challenges. Try to imagine how the pandemic has exacerbated the \u201ctest of mental toughness\u201d we expect children in and from care to pass . Can you imagine being 15 years old in a Group Home with five other kids all fighting their demons and personal struggles that may have brought them into care and certainly those struggles caused by a life in an unforgiving system.  Can you imagine the stress of living with each other and staff coming and going, in and out.Some you\u2019ve never met.  Some you kind of like. Others you may not and who feel the same way about you.  Can you imagine the isolation you feel as you spend most of your time in a room not being allowed outside of the home.  Not being permitted any visitors.  Often no access to the internet because well those are the homes rules. Feeling trapped and lonely trying to past the mental toughness test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you imagine the peril of youth dumped from care who have been pushed out of care into independence alone?  Trying to get by on whatever you have.  In a room in a rooming house somewhere.  No one to call.  No family to be concerned about you.  Just you and your history.  The lifelines that prevent loneliness and homelessness, the organizations and services  you used, the groups you attended, the classes you took, the workplace you went to all ripped away by social distancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year on Youth in Care Day in the face of the pandemic we must truly see and acknowledge young people in and from care.  We must tell them so.  At the same time enough is enough! Deeds not words.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the same concern our governments have placed upon supporting businesses, large and small. With the leadership the government has and is providing to the task of protecting and now opening the economy our government must do the same in protecting and nurturing our children particularly the children in its care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Youth In Care Day I call upon our Legislature to Establish a Standing Committee on Children and Youth. The Minister of Children, Community and Social Services must report to this Committee.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee must meaningfully involve and partner with youth in and from care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first task of the Committee must be to work with the Minister and Youth to make recommendations in real time to change the experiences of children and youth in care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee must hear from the Minister and from youth monthly not about how much money is being spent, not what great framework or strategy is in place but about how lives of children are being changed and hopefully have changed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee must hear each month about the number and manner of death of children connected to a Childrens Aid Society in some way.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee must hear about the number of Serious Occurrence Reports and the nature of those reports. This will keep the Committee centred upon children in their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be a bold move.  We are in a time of bold moves. We have seen that a time of pandemic requires bold moves.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember when the planning of the release of My Real Lifebook was taking place. The young people in meeting with the Minister and his staff had said that they were going to hold a media release event at the Legislature and they wanted to give the report there to all three Parties with seats in the Legislature. The Minister\u2019s staff were hesitant and pushed back. \u201cThat\u2019s not the way we do things\u201d they said. One youth replied \u201c Listen your government is like our parent. But you are a parent with joint custody. Because with any election a new government can come to power and they will have custody of us. No child wants their parents fighting over them. They, we, want you all of you to sit down together with us, as if you are at our kitchen table and let\u2019s talk about how we can do better\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This May 14th lets commit to this. We can do it Ontario<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As published in part in the Toronto Star May 14 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deeds Not Words An Open Letter to Ontarians On Youth in Care Day, May 14, 2020 Irwin Elman ( Former Ontario Child Advocate 2007-2019, Global Advisor Until The Last Child, Laidlaw Fellow, Laidlaw Foundation \u201c This pandemic is a real test of our mental toughness and resilience\u201d said the young girl […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1202,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/1202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}