COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

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3.1 FAMILY CONFLICT, ABUSE, & NEGLECT Youth across Canada recounted countless experiences of conflict, abuse, and neglect, often stretching over years and across multiple homes. Young people reported caregivers and caregivers’ partners or friends beating, raping, and threatening them with guns, and consistently lying to child welfare workers about the abuse. In many instances this abuse occurred in the context of caregiver substance abuse and/or mental health issues, often in addition to poverty and housing instability. Unfortunately, as discussed above, youth reported feeling deeply unsupported and abandoned by the professionals who should have helped them – police officers, child welfare workers, and teachers – some of whom didn’t believe them about the abuse. In some cases youth felt safer sleeping on the streets than at home, and several expressed that family members didn’t care that they had become homeless. One St. John’s youth explained, “Having family that know you’re homeless but don’t do anything about it – that’s a big, a BIG, issue.” “I don’t speak for everybody, but the majority of people I interacted with that ended up homeless as youth, were a direct representation of what their parents did, or what their parents had involved in their lives. And maybe there were just no programs for the parents without that fear lingering that they’re going to lose their kids. That’s something that’s really serious. I know – as a mom, I would never – if I knew I was doing something wrong – I would never open up and ask for help because I know my child would be at risk for being taken away.” CALGARY YOUTH When youth were asked what would have prevented their own homelessness, many explained the need for improved supports, services, and housing to address family conflict, abuse, and neglect. Youth ranged in their opinions of what these services should look like, with some wanting family mediation supports and others wanting to be removed from the home and provided with housing and supports. Across all focus groups, however, youth emphasized the importance of providing youth choices as to what services, supports, and housing would help them deal with familial conflict and violence. WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 104
ADDRESSING FAMILY CONFLICT, ABUSE, & NEGLECT: Youth’s Proposed Solutions Policy & System Change • Place youth experiencing abuse or neglect on housing waitlists immediately • Enable youth under 16 to access services, supports, and housing without alerting their caregiver(s) • Remove time limits on accessing public housing • Abolish or alter child welfare policies that prioritize keeping families together at all costs, particularly in cases of abuse Investments • Build more safe houses for youth experiencing abuse • Expand available youth housing in all communities • Increase funding for family mediation and counselling services Professional Conduct & Training • Educate teachers on how to better support students experiencing abuse • Ensure all professionals supporting young people dealing with family conflict, abuse, or neglect are non-judgmental and trained in trauma-informed care and anti-oppression Interventions • Provide access to free courses and support groups on parenting and life skills, targeted to young people and parents struggling with poverty, addiction, and/or mental health issues • Provide caregivers with workers who can support them to improve their parenting • Provide school-based education to all youth on how to identify abuse • Provide free family counselling and mediation, including for foster families • Educate caregivers on alternatives to kicking youth out of their home • Provide free counseling to all youth who have experienced childhood abuse and neglect • Offer supportive programs and education (e.g., seminars, peer support groups) for young people who have experienced abuse (including young men who have experienced abuse) • Provide peer supports and support groups for people who have perpetrated familial violence WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 105
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WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? Youth Across Ca
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This research was made possible thr
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Are we making sig
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YOUTH’S PERSPECTIVES ON PREVENTIO
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Youth’s Proposed Solutions • In
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• Lack of education for youth on
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“My trauma led me down a wrong pa
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5. Align ministerial, departmental,
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INTEGRATED GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS 1. W
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INTRODUCTION Youth homelessness in
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Systems change is difficult work. T
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Finally, youth homelessness prevent
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CONSULTATION PROCESS National consu
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Prior to beginning the study, resea
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62 % Self-identified as currently e
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WHAT IS YOUTH HOMELESSNESS PREVENTI
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YOUTH’S PERSPECTIVES ON PREVENTIO
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WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 1. STRUCTURAL P
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“I think that affordable housing
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LOW SOCIAL ASSISTANCE RATES Many yo
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LOW WAGES & TIGHT JOB MARKETS In th
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MOVING FORWARD To ensure better out
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1.2 LACK OF HOUSING While youth vie
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Public Housing Challenges The lack
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MOVING FORWARD The solutions propos
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“Well, for me, like, because of r
Page 53 and 54: MOVING FORWARD Indigenous youth vie
Page 55 and 56: “I have friends that are in foste
Page 57 and 58: MOVING FORWARD While youth describe
Page 59 and 60: 1.5 HARMFUL SOCIETAL BELIEFS & VALU
Page 61 and 62: “A lot of systems are still set u
Page 63 and 64: ADDRESSING ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERI
Page 65 and 66: WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 2. SYSTEMS PREV
Page 67 and 68: 2.1 EDUCATION For young people who
Page 69 and 70: 2. Professional Training For the mo
Page 71 and 72: Investments • Provide significant
Page 73 and 74: “Educating teachers, principals,
Page 75 and 76: Experiences in Foster Care Many you
Page 77 and 78: Difficult Transitions from Care Tra
Page 79 and 80: “My parents were good enough at l
Page 81 and 82: 2.3 HEALTHCARE & ADDICTIONS For you
Page 83 and 84: An additional issue raised by many
Page 85 and 86: MOVING FORWARD Without a Home: The
Page 87 and 88: 2.4 YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SECTOR In fo
Page 89 and 90: “Requirements to access help some
Page 91 and 92: “Yeah, when I first moved in [to
Page 93 and 94: PREVENTING YOUTH HOMELESSNESS IN TH
Page 95 and 96: While the recommendations below can
Page 97 and 98: 2.5 CRIMINAL JUSTICE A common conce
Page 99 and 100: PREVENTING YOUTH HOMELESSNESS IN TH
Page 101 and 102: MOVING FORWARD Canadian research sh
Page 103: WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 3. PREVENTING I
Page 107 and 108: “This is real. We did not choose
Page 109 and 110: Lack of services and supports also
Page 111 and 112: MOVING FORWARD Youth across the cou
Page 113 and 114: ADDRESSING SOCIAL EXCLUSION & ISOLA
Page 115 and 116: “I’m just trying to say that, i
Page 117 and 118: ADDRESSING VIOLENCE IN THE COMMUNIT
Page 119 and 120: YOUTH’S MESSAGES TO ALL LEVELS OF
Page 121 and 122: We need to dramatically shift our a
Page 123 and 124: RECOMMENDATIONS 1 GOVERNMENT OF CAN
Page 125 and 126: 5. Align ministerial, departmental,
Page 127 and 128: 2. Embed youth homelessness prevent
Page 129 and 130: INTEGRATED GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS 1. W
Page 131 and 132: 3. Require that all school boards a
Page 133 and 134: 5. Offer comprehensive, youth-focus
Page 135 and 136: 8. Systematically investigate and e
Page 137 and 138: Provincial/Territorial Ministries R
Page 139 and 140: 6. Seek to provide highly integrate
Page 141 and 142: 3. Foster meaningful youth engageme
Page 143 and 144: Gaetz, S., O’Grady, B., Kidd, S.,
Page 145: Statistics Canada. (2011). National
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