COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

PREVENTING YOUTH HOMELESSNESS IN THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM:
Youth’s Proposed Solutions
Policy & System Change
• Reduce waitlists for youth housing
• Ensure that youth’s wishes drive decisions as to whether, and how, a young person is
removed from a home or not
• Do not allow a young person to transition out of care without a plan in place for stable
housing and supports
• Improve the monitoring of foster homes to quickly identify and respond to abuse and neglect
• Improve coordination and communication within child welfare, and between child welfare
and other systems
• Enable youth to choose their foster care placements and change their minds about their
placement, creating rapid pathways for youth to obtain alternative, appropriate, and safe
housing in such cases
• Improve screening processes to ensure foster homes are safe and appropriate
• Assist youth in care to save funds for independent living by establishing savings accounts
for youth into which their government funds are deposited (accessible when youth
transition out of care)
Investments
• Invest in and expand youth housing options as an alternative to foster care placement, including
housing and supports specifically for Indigenous youth, LGBTQ2S+ youth, and POC youth
• Offer income supports and services to youth with child welfare involvement up to the age of 25
• Increase financial supports and wrap around care for youth transitioning out of the child
welfare system
Professional Conduct & Training
• Implement improved accountability mechanisms to ensure case workers are appropriately
and adequately responding to children and youth’s needs, and listening and valuing the
opinions of young people
• Improve training and education for social workers on how to identify and respond to abuse
• Provide ongoing training for case workers to better meet the needs of youth
• Implement accountability mechanisms to ensure child welfare workers never breach youth’s
rights to confidentiality
Interventions
• Provide counselling and supports to caregivers and foster families struggling with parenting
• Provide each youth in care with an advocate/system navigator to provide support during
and after care
• Provide life skills programs to youth in care and transitioning out of care
• Educate youth on their rights as wards of the state, and the responsibilities of their foster
families and social workers to provide for them
• Provide free family mediation services, including for foster families
• Adopt a harm reduction approach within any child protection intervention
• Educate youth in care on available services and supports they can access both during and
after care
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 78