A bill before the Nova Scotia Legislature is proposing raising the age limit for support for young people who have been in the foster care or group home system to 26.
Currently, youth in care age out of the system at 19 years old, although there are some programs that do offer support for people beyond that cut-off. That includes a program called PATH, which provides bi-weekly payments young people in care can use for food, rent, or anything else they need from age 19 up to the age of 24.
“That is a very difficult time for young people who lose supports, or who have lost supports in the past, at a time where they’re also taking on adult responsibilities,” said Stacey Greenough, a director with that division.
Advocates for youth in care have spoken out, including to the Canadian Senate, about stories of young people who age out of their group home and end up homeless.
Greenough explained the change isn’t intended to place any restrictions on a young adult’s choices about the direction of their life.
“We recognize these are young adults after their care has ended and this is a voluntary program,” she said.
Some young people who have recently left group homes or foster care are pleased to see more attention on the transition, which can be abrupt and disorienting.
Keauna Moulaison was 14 years old when she lost her father to cancer in 2018. She and her brother stayed with a family friend for a while, then entered the care of the province.
The province made a special foster arrangement with a family who already knew Moulaison, and she lived there until going to university in Ontario at 17.
In a new province and learning how to manage money for the first time, Moulaison felt stressed and anxious. Moulaison feels she didn’t start to process her grief for a couple of years owing to the disruption in her life when her father died. The transition to adulthood and being out on her own was hard.
“It was really exciting at first,” she said. “And then it quickly became not-so-exciting—just all the stress of real-life things. I was really on my own and I was like, holy cow, what am I doing? How do I do this?”
She dealt with depression and an eating disorder that she’s recovered from. She feels the eating disorder developed because controlling her food was a way for her to take control of something in her life.
“Because for so much of my life I was out of control and I didn’t have a say and I didn’t get to make all of my own choices,” she said.
Moulaison, now 22 and living in Halifax, is making progress toward becoming an occupational therapist and says she has learned how to advocate for her needs.
She is one of 320 Nova Scotians in the PATH program, who receive on average about $1,300 per month.
“I’m grateful and I’m thankful for the support that they do give,” Moulaison said, acknowledging she could not have continued her education without it.
However she feels strongly that mental health supports should continue for young people after they age out of the care system.
She nearly lost access to her own long-time therapist after becoming an adult.
“I just remember when they tried to pull that from me, we had to fight,” she said, recalling her social worker at the time seemed reluctant to approve money for her to keep seeing the same practitioner.
“All of us who come into care, we bring baggage or we bring life experiences or trauma that we’ve experienced.”
The department eventually approved the money after Moulaison spoke about her experience in testimony to the Canadian Senate.
The Senate report, released in December, called the issue a “crisis” and noted that youth exiting care without support can create a “child-welfare-to-prison pipeline.”
Independent Senator Mary Coyle of Antigonish, N.S., said it is shocking there are so many people in the criminal justice system who have come through foster care or other forms of youth care.
“When young people age out of care, where do they go? How do they feed themselves? How do they house themselves? Who do they associate with?” Coyle said.
“If there isn’t a wraparound, healthy support system for that person they’re going to seek out a system somewhere to get by.”
The proposed change to Nova Scotia law aligns with changes other provinces like New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have already made.
Stacey Greenough says the department intends for young people to transition to help based in the community, and social workers can help them plan to find mental health services.
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