Ten Ways to Stand with Youth in Care AFTER Child and Youth in Care Week!

May 27, 2011

BC Child and Youth in Care Week is coming to an end—now what? Here’s what! **See below for more photos from MCFD’s Launch of the week!**

Ten Ways to Stand with Youth In Care AFTER Child and Youth in Care Week:

1. Take notice. There are approximately 8,400 young people in care this year alone. This includes young people in foster homes, group homes and custody centres. Learn about the realities facing our province’s young people in care.

2. Listen. Ask young people in care about their needs, issues and ideas. They are experts on their experiences and should participate in all the decisions affecting them.

3. Respect. Support young people to make empowered decisions that they feel are right for them. Help them learn about their rights, pursue their education or career goals, transition into a healthy adulthood and have life-long relationships with the people they choose.

4. Connect. If you have theirs and their guardian’s permission, help connect young people to their siblings and family. Show them opportunities to connect with the communities of their choosing which could include social justice, queer, arts, or Aboriginal and other ethnic communities.

5. Network. Young people often feel empowered when they are connected to their peers in care. Contact the Federation of BC Youth in Care Networks (FBCYICN) and learn about opportunities including a provincial youth magazine, bursaries, conferences, camps and local youth in care networks across the province. fbcyicn.ca

6. Fight stigma. Challenge the notion that young people in care are all the same—‘criminals,’ ‘addicts,’ ‘lost causes’ or ‘drains on society. ’ What they do have in common is their survival of their experience in the system. Young people need adult allies who speak up in conversations and write letters to papers and politicians.

7. Be a cheerleader. Identify things about young people that you love and encourage their strengths – they get pretty tired of being told what they are doing wrong. If a young person in care has done something really great recently, write them a letter or email and copy their social worker.

8. Donate. Many young people rely on education bursaries since they face so many barriers to post-secondary education— help eliminate the financial ones! Try FBCYICN’s Dream Fund at fbcyicn.ca/dreamfund

9. Become a foster or adoptive parent! We need more great homes for youth in care to live and yours just might be the perfect place for someone out there! Find out more info at: www.fosterbc.ca or bcadoption.com.

10. Celebrate! BC Child and Youth in Care Week now happens every year. Attend events in your area, wear T-shirts and buttons, show your support through social media, and get others on board.

Must-Read BC Child and Youth in Care Week Links:

Our first news release (what you send to all the newspaper/online news, TV, and radio people when you have something to say to the public) about BC Child and Youth in Care Week
Our second news release with the 10 Ways to Stand with Youth in Care
Our Facebook event, ‘‘I Stand with Youth In Care—BC Child and Youth in Care Week’’
Read FBCYICN’s Report Card on government care in BC.
The video of the provincial BC Child and Youth in Care Week celebration.
MCFD’s news and statements about BC Child and Youth in Care Week.
The Representative for Children and Youth’s statement about BC Child and Youth in Care Week.
See the hip-hop music video, created by young people with Reel Youth and funded by MCFD, made to celebrate BC Child and Youth in Care Week.
See the BC Child and Youth in Care Week proclamation.
See the transcript from the private member reading of the proclamation of BC Child and Youth in Care Week in the Legislature.