"[C]onsideration should be given to helping youth build their self-advocacy and skills to help them address potential discrimination and bias they may face in adult service systems and the community at large (e.g., in securing housing). "- Serving LGBT2SQ children and youth in the child welfare system (page 56)
Youth from equity-seeking groups
Youth encounter additional challenges as they grow older and move into adulthood, with youth from equity-seeking groups being particularly impacted.
For example, during adolescence:
- Young people may be questioning, exploring, and navigating emerging sexual and gender identities as well as experiencing homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in school, the home, and their community
- First Nations youth living in communities without high schools may have to leave their families, communities, and culture to continue their education; others, including Inuit from Nunavut as well as youth from northern reserves within Ontario, may have to move south in order to access services, for example, mental health supports
- As of the age of 12, young people can be sentenced under the Youth Criminal Justice Act
- Youth may encounter significant peer pressure to drink alcohol, use drugs, or have sex. They are also within the age range of vulnerability for sexual exploitation and trafficking
As a result of their unique needs as well as the additional challenges they encounter due to systemic oppression, youth from equity-seeking groups may experience higher levels of risk and vulnerability than other youth.
For example, we know that:
- LGBT2SQ youth experience higher rates of homelessness and increased risk for suicide and substance use than non-LGBT2SQ youth
- Indigenous youth who have relocated to southern or urban communities and/or been separated from their families and communities may have increased vulnerability due to culture shock, a lack of community supports, and feelings of loneliness and isolation
- Racialized and Indigenous youth face systemic racism and harmful stereotypes, both of which can contribute to their criminalization and higher rates of involvement in the youth justice system. Within residential services, African Canadian youth are also significantly underrepresented in mental health and treatment-oriented services while at the same time overrepresented in containment-focused facilities
- Youth with unresolved immigration issues often struggle with the immigration or citizenship application process; those who age out of care without legal immigration status or citizenship enter a life filled with uncertainty and are unable to access essential health and social services, pursue education, or gain legal employment
Because of these challenges, youth from equity-seeking groups may need access to additional or specific supports (e.g. culturally relevant services) while in care and during their transition to adulthood. They also need to be connected to affirming resources, networks, community members, mentors, and programs that support their identity formation during adolescence and help them to understand how their social location and systemic inequalities affect them.
Background information and resources
- Because young people matter: Report of the residential services panel [2016]Report of a system-wide review of the province’s child and youth residential services system, including foster and group care, children and youth mental health residential treatment, and youth justice facilities
- Hard LearningThis CBC short focuses on one First Nations student from Wapekeka who must must move 500 km away to Thunder Bay in order to attend high school.
- Unsafe harbour: Parents weigh school versus safety in Thunder BaySpecial report from CBC focusing on Indigenous families living in remote communities throughout northwestern Ontario.
- Feathers of hope: A First Nations action plan [2014]This report published by the Ontario Child Advocate covers the realities and issues of concern of First Nations youth primarily living in remote and fly-in communities in northern Ontario.
- One Vision One Voice: Changing the Ontario child welfare system to better serve African Canadians – Practice framework part 1 [2016]Part one of a practice framework which calls for sweeping reforms to the Ontario child welfare system to address systemic racism and to reduce the overrepresentation of African Canadian children in care. Part one includes a literature review looking at the systemic forces that bring families of African descent into contact with child welfare
- Doing right together for Black youth: What we learned from the community engagement sessions for the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan [2017]This report summarizes what was learned from over 1,500 community members who answered the call from the MCCSS (previously the Ministry of Children and Youth Services) to co-develop the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan.
Practice guides and strategies for child welfare professionals
- Serving LGBT2SQ children and youth in the child welfare system: A resource guide [2018]Resource guide developed to help Ontario child welfare professionals, residential service providers, and caregivers (e.g., foster, kin, and customary caregivers) better meet the needs of the LGBT2SQ children and youth they serve
- Transcending supports: Supportive work with transgender youthPARTicle. Note: login required; must be a PART member to access
- Youth living in out-of-home care who are involved with the criminal justice system: Practice considerationsPARTicle. Note: login required; must be a PART member to access
- Immigration status matters: A guide to addressing immigration status issues for children and youth in care [2014]This guide outlines best practices in working with children and youth in care who have immigration status issues and require support to be come permanent residents and, ultimately, Canadian citizens.
Additional resources
- Toolkit on effective mentoring for youth facing barriers to successBest practices and resources to build, strengthen, evaluate and sustain effective mentoring programs for youth considered at high-risk of under education, unemployment, homelessness, criminalization, and other negative outcomes.
- NewYouth.caInformation and referrals for immigrant and refugee youth in Ontario.
- Child Welfare Immigration Centre of Excellence (CWICE)Website for a new service to help Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario with the increasing number of issues related to immigration status associated with the children and families serviced by children’s aid societies.
- Caring for Kids New to CanadaResource for health professionals working with immigrant and refugee children and youth.