Alberta must resume financial help past age 22 for former kids in care, advocate says

Alberta's child and youth advocate is calling on the province to bring back support for young people over the age of 22 who have aged out of government care but still require financial support to make a successful transition to adulthood. 

Calling for Change: Investigative Reviews Consolidated Report looks at the cases of 48 children and youth. Of those, 47 died and one youth who suffered a serious injury. Twenty-six cases involved young people who faced mental health issues, substance use, or both. 

Advocate Terri Pelton found most of them didn't have adequate help to make the transition into adulthood.

"Of the 26 young people who had mental health and/or substance use concerns, 12 were between 18 and 22 years old," the report reads.

Pelton recommended in the report, released Wednesday, that the government review the Transition to Adulthood Program.

An old program provided young adults with supports up to the age of 24. The current program — TAP — came into effect in 2020 and only provides financial support up until the age of 22.

Unlike some of their peers, permanent wards of the province don't necessarily have a family to rely on if they still need more support into their twenties, Pelton said. She wants the province to raise the age of eligibility for both financial and non-financial supports. 

"The government is their parent," Pelton said in an interview with CBC.

"[They] don't have the access that most Albertan young people do have. And I really feel quite passionately that we have to do more for those those young adults."

Pelton said financial support should continue beyond the age of 22, to the age of 24 or 26. While some young people do well with the Advanced Futures bursaries available from the government, many others need continued support. 

"I'm really worried about the ones that are in the support stream, those ones who are struggling with addictions and mental health and need some extra nurturing to be successful," Pelton said. 

"The young adults in the support stream are those who have complex needs and need more support. And I would really like to see that area strengthened."

Searle Turton, Alberta's minister of children and family services, would not commit to restoring the age eligibility beyond the age of 22 and said that no decisions have been made. 

He said the government has focused on trying to set children up for success by increasing the supports they get at a younger age. 

"We've been really making a conscious effort to invest at earlier stages into the lives of kids so that way they're a little bit more resilient when they come out as young adults," Turton said in an interview. 

"But we realize that there's always improvements we can make into the system, and we'll have those conversations as a ministry."

Some young people say they had mixed experiences aging out of government care.

Autumn Sampson, 24, and T.J. Thompson, 21, said information about benefits they could access under the TAP weren't always shared with them and would depend on the case worker assigned to them. 

"When you actually go to access those services, you're met with multiple roadblocks and especially in the sense that we get put on the same wait list as everyone else," Sampson said.

"So ultimately we're not actually able to access the programs in a reasonable amount of time."

Thompson said the government needs to take another look at the cutoff age of 22. He said people should be assessed regularly to ensure they are getting the support they need. 

"Everyone's different. Everyone has different values and grew up differently in life," Thompson said. 

"One person may not be in the same situation at 26 as someone else is at 20." 

Calgary-Acadia MLA Diana Batten, the NDP critic for childcare, child and family services, said the cases outlined in the advocate's report are "devastating."

Batten said she tried to raise the issue of restoring the age for financial support back to 24 via a motion earlier in the fall sitting. Government MLAs voted it down. 

"I know from speaking to the youth themselves this is life changing," she said. "When the change was made initially, there were real life consequences. It was terrible."

Other recommendations 

Pelton makes five recommendations in her report. They include having Alberta's ministry of mental health and addictions publicly post availability and wait times for programs to help children and youth.

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams said recovery services are supplied by third-party organizations, so wait times are not readily available.

He said he is interested in expanding recovery services for youth and planned to talk to Pelton about that. 

The children and youth whose cases are outlined in the advocate's report reveal lives cut short by drug overdose, suicide or accidental death. 

One boy died by suicide at the age of 11 after the deaths of his mother and older siblings. The report says he "was deeply impacted by these losses, and did not receive timely or ongoing supports."

A young woman, who witnessed substance use and violence at home, sustained a traumatic brain injury when she was six. She was no longer able to get supports after the age of 14.

She started using substances as her mental health took a turn for the worst.  She died of a drug overdose at 19, several months after her daughter was apprehended by the province. 

Pelton's other recommendations call on the government to better coordinate community-based services offered by ministries that support children and youth, perform annual reviews of those services, and make it easier for families to navigate those supports.

If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to get help:

• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text between 4 p.m. and midnight ET).
• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling on the website.
• Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.
• This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you're worried about.