For thousands of young people leaving Canada’s child welfare system, the transition to adulthood can be overwhelming — and addressing those challenges is the focus of a newly-funded McMaster University research initiative.
Melissa Kimber, associate professor and Chedoke Health Chair in Child Psychiatry with McMaster’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, has received $1.7 million from the Public Health Agency of Canada to lead a five-year project that will implement and evaluate the Equitable Standards for Transitions to Adulthood for Youth in Care.
This national-level project will be facilitated through the Child and Youth Trauma Research Incubator (ThRIve Lab) at the Offord Centre for Child Studies, a joint institute of McMaster and Hamilton Health Sciences.
Previous research has shown that young people transitioning to adulthood from the child welfare system face disproportionately high rates of homelessness, poor mental health and unemployment.
The Equitable Standards aim to change that, and this project will build the evidence needed to help ensure young people leaving care have the support they need to succeed.
“Youth in and from care have told us, clearly, what they need to successfully transition to adulthood. The Equitable Standards were built on exactly that knowledge,” Kimber says.
“This project is an opportunity to demonstrate, at scale, that when we centre lived expertise in both the design and evaluation of systems change, we generate evidence that is not only rigorous but transformative.”
“I am honoured to co-lead this work alongside Dr. Melanie Doucet and the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates, whose leadership and vision have already moved the needle on how Canada thinks about supporting young people leaving care.”
As part of the five-year project, researchers will work with more than 20 organizations across Canada to implement the Equitable Standards in real-world settings and measure their impact, generating evidence to support equitable transitions for youth in care, as well as to inform child welfare policy and practice across Canada.
The Equitable Standards focus on supporting young people based on their readiness, rather than age, with more flexible and ongoing supports.
Kimber will co-lead the project with the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates (NCYICA). The NCYICA is a national bilingual lived expertise-led non-profit organization comprising people with lived and living experience in the child welfare system and allies.
The Equitable Standards were developed by Doucet, the NCYICA, and young people in and/from care from across Canada, ensuring youth voices and lived expertise are central to how supports are designed.
“The Equitable Standards establish a new benchmark for the supports and services young people in care need to thrive in adulthood, rather than simply survive. Rooted in human rights and equity, the Equitable Standards aim to transform the systems that serve youth in care by centering the knowledge and experiences of those with lived expertise,” says Doucet, executive director of the NCYICA.
“This approach helps ensure that supports are responsive to each young person’s unique circumstances and provide a gradual, well-supported transition into adulthood. Youth in care deserve a future where they feel loved, valued, included, and empowered to succeed.”
“Meaningful systems change must be guided by people with lived expertise, because they understand firsthand what works, what doesn’t, and what young people truly need. As the movement reminds us: Nothing About Us, Without Us!”
The project is unique in Canada for combining lived expertise with large-scale evaluation. By working across multiple organizations and regions, it moves beyond individual programs to examine how systems can better support youth as they transition into adulthood from the child welfare system.