Letters and Submissions

First Call Urges Premier Clark to Improve Youth-in-Care Transitions

| Filed in Letters and Submissions to Government Child Rights Children and Youth in Care Education (Post-Secondary) Health Income Assistance/Welfare Provincial Safety Youth Employment

June 2014

Mid-June, First Call sent a letter to Premier Christy Clark in support of the recommendations in the report On Their Own: Examining the Needs of BC Youth as They Leave Government Care, released April 2014 by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the BC representative for children and youth.

“These are thoughtful, well-founded recommendations that, if acted upon by your government, would help move BC’s support for youth leaving care from piecemeal and insufficient to a more systematic approach which respects these young people’s rights and recognizes their potential,” writes First Call provincial coordinator Adrienne Montani.

In this letter, First Call urged Premier Clark to:

  1. Establish a youth secretariat within the Ministry of Children and Family Development
  2. Mandate and strengthen education planning and skills-training pathways for every youth in care
  3. Build a “durable policy foundation” for youth programs/services in BC, including legislative amendments to extend foster care for some youth up to age 25 and support a Youth Leaving Care Act
  4. Hold public hearings on youth leaving care and out-of-home placements

First Call also affirmed that investing in children in care – including the 700 youth who age out of the system each year – is not only the right thing to do but also cost effective.