Thu Jan 11 2007

By Mia Rabson

WE don't kick our own kids out on their own just because they turn 18 and we shouldn't do it to foster kids either, the Manitoba Child Advocate said Wednesday.

Billie Schibler released a 97-page report that painted a bleak portrait of the life facing kids who have spent much of their lives in the care of child-welfare services, and who get turfed from the system as soon as they turn 18.

"They are really poorly prepared for the challenge of living on their own," said Schibler, who made 45 recommendations to improve the situation for kids who are aging out of care.

These kids are at higher risk for depression, suicide, sexual exploitation, gang involvement and other criminal activity, homelessness, and unemployment. They are far less likely than average Manitoba kids to finish high school and have little ability, if any, to go on to post-secondary education.

Currently, almost 1,600 kids will "age out" of care over the next three years. Among them, 70 per cent are aboriginal kids and 28 per cent have diagnosed disabilities.

Schibler says the system should be enhanced to continue to provide services for kids until the age of 21, and that in special circumstances care should be provided until the age of 25.

Kids need to be taught and assessed for their life skills starting at the age of 15, when they should also begin working with their caregivers to create a transition plan for independent living.

"They need the time to transition until they find their place in this adult world," said Schibler.

Additional funding for services for older youth is needed as are policies and plans to keep kids from moving between schools too often, and more money is needed for affordable, safe housing for kids leaving care.

Schibler said when kids who aren't in care turn 18, most of them know if they leave home they still have the support of their families. They can leave and they can return if they want to, says Schibler.

"For youth in care, this is not an option," she says.

She said Canadian kids are staying at home longer and longer, noting Statistics Canada shows 93 per cent of 18-year-olds live with at least one parent, and 57 per cent of Canadians between the age of 20 and 24 live with a parent.

Most people understand 18-year-olds aren't ready to go out into the world on their own and make it without a support system. And for kids who've grown up in the system, they already have a number of disadvantages and the only support they have is their foster family, their social worker, and their friends.

Cathy Wiebe, a foster mom who has had 10 foster kids age out of her care, was ecstatic yesterday to hear the system may finally address this problem.

Wiebe said she often tries to keep the kids around, and always gives them the option of maintaining contact. She said most of her kids are grateful to hear they will still have a family to go to on Christmas or their birthday.

But she said many foster families need support from the system if they are going to support their foster kids beyond the age of 18. Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh said he would pass the report on to the committee he appointed in October to implement Schibler's last two reports. Those dealt with a major overhaul of the child-welfare system resulting from the death of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair.

"This is an emerging area of recognition and concern and we have to do better," Mackintosh said.

He committed $240,000 to help CFS kids finish school and go to university or college. A mentorship program to connect newly aged-out kids with those who have been there before will begin.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Former foster child got tough life lesson

FROM the time she was 10 years old, Verna Cowley bounced around the foster care system in The Pas.

By the time she turned 18, she had already been in six foster homes.

She seldom went to school. She felt like nobody cared.

And when she turned 18, she was turned out on the street and left to her own devices.

"I had no support whatsoever when I left care," Cowley said. "I had nothing. I didn't have an education. I knew what I was headed for."

She said she had to go on social assistance, and moved back in with her mother and helped take care of her mother's young kids.

Cowley says the only thing that got her through was a social worker who has become like an older sister to her, and helped her navigate her way into adulthood.

"She's one of the social workers who go out on a limb for her kids," said Cowley. "There should be more like her."

Cowley is now studying at the University of Manitoba to be a social worker herself, but wishes there was more emphasis on her education when she was growing up.

"I wish they would have pushed me to go to school," she said.

When she told her social workers she was skipping school, they shrugged it off and said maybe she should get a job instead.

"That was the kind of attitude I got," said Cowley.

-- Mia Rabson

By the numbers

7,206

Number of kids in system

as of Aug. 31, 2006

1,593

Number of kids expected to "age out" in next three years

70

Percentage of "aging out" kids who are aboriginal

28

Percentage with a diagnosed disability

88

Percentage of aboriginal inmates at Stony Mountain who used to be in foster care

63.3

Percentage of non-aboriginal inmates at Stony Mountain who used to be in foster care

93

Percentage of Canadian kids who live with a parent at the age of 18

57

Percentage of Canadian kids who live with a parent between the ages of 20-24

Top recommendations

* Provide support for kids until the age of 21.

* Extend maximum age for special care to 25.

* Develop set of life skills kids should have by the time they hit 15, 16, 17 and 18 years old.

* Establish standards for services for kids aging out of care.

* Establish a tracking system for kids while in care and after they leave care, to measure progress in everything from education to health, social relationships and emotional and behavioural development.

* Train workers and foster parents to help youth make the transition out of care.

* Develop affordable, short-term and long-term housing for kids leaving care.

* Develop a policy to reduce the number of times kids in care change schools.

* Develop a standard to promote education as a priority for kids in care.

* Introduce financial incentives for kids in care to pursue higher education.
© 2007 Winnipeg Free Press. All Rights Reserved.


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