Child welfare services for older youth

The Ontario child welfare sector recognizes that different service approaches may be required to work with the 16 and 17 year old population – including the use of Voluntary Youth Services Agreement – and will adjust those approaches as Children's Aid Societies (CASs) gain experience offering protection services to this new population.

The sector has also been advocating for the province to dedicate new funding in support of the expanded age of protection as it represents significant change management for child welfare and CASs need to be adequately resourced to meet the needs of the new population of youth who are now eligible for services.

Through a series of virtual focus groups with CAS staff, OACAS learned the following about sector experiences to date serving the 16 and 17 year old population:

• In just the first three months of 2018, more than 1,700 youth were identified for services. This exceeds previous estimates from the Minister of Children and Youth Services, Hon. Michael Coteau
• The most common referrers, besides self-referral, were police or youth justice related professionals, schools or educational professionals, community members, and mental health service providers
• The types of issues that bring these youth into contact with CASs included, among others, parent-teen or family conflict, abandonment or isolation, homelessness or housing insecurity, and mental or emotional health issues
• The consensus among CAS staff is that they require more time to support this new population of youth, because working with older youth often involves more engagement and relationship-building efforts