While most children can’t wait to grow and be alone, Brownsville, Ontario. The resident Cynthia Quaite says that entering adulthood has been the most isolated experience of her life.
He spent his adolescence in the child welfare system, moving among host homes and dealing with mental health challenges, but says that the aging of the system has been more difficult than his combined years in it.
“I feel that I have no one right now,” said Quaite, a former Crown neighborhood who agreed completely from the system in October, after his 23rd birthday. “I literally have no family or friends who understand. That part is really difficult.”
Quaite connected for the first time with a social worker for children at age six, and began living in host homes at age 14. When he was a teenager, he fought with mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression and self -harm.
While she was in the system, she said that the local childhood help society supported her by matching her with host families and helping her to university, but now she stays alone to discover “normal things of common people.”
“Anything to do with a car is out of the window. They didn’t tell me how to pay bills or how to have an apartment,” he said. “I don’t even know who to ask who to ask for such things.”
In Ontario, children can remain in the child welfare system until they are 18 years old, but there are additional services to those who can access from 18 to 22 years. From 2023, children’s help societies must use a guide to the Ministry of Children, Communities and Social Services’ to develop programs that teach young people about housing, employment and finance.
“[The guide] It includes new requirements for children’s help societies to hold them responsible for ensuring that young people are prepared to get out of care, “the ministry said in a statement.
“At age 13, children’s help societies will present discussions about plans for the future. At age 15, conversations change to the development of life skills, such as financial education, grocery shopping, the construction of curriculums and how to access social services and other support,” said the ministry, and added that the program was built with contributions from former young people in care.
However, Quaite said that even with extended services, it is difficult to lose all support in one day.
“I graduated from the university, so they assumed that I knew how to do these things and really did not think I needed help, but that is not the case at all,” he said.
Lose the closest to the family
Quaite said that the most difficult part of the aging of the child welfare system was to lose their relationship with a social worker.
“I made a very good connection with her, I trusted her, and it is very difficult for me to trust other people, and she told me randomly one day that she is no longer my social worker.”
It was the same story for Woodstock, Ontario. The resident Nadia Sorgent, who aged the system on her 21st birthday in 2012.
“I just remember shouting my eyes on my 21st birthday,” he said. “Ask any neighborhood of La Corona and tell you that they spent their birthday crying and fearing what was ahead, because everything we know in terms of support has gone.”
While he was in casual contact with his social worker after aging the system, Sorgent said not everyone is so lucky.
“You are losing a maternal figure and someone you can support for anything with taxes, trying to find a job, working on a curriculum,” said Sister. “You are losing the last thing you had a connection, which would be like the family.”
Call for transition support
When Sorgent read for the first time about Quaite’s experiences in a Facebook post, he said he was immediately forced to connect.
“I remember having that age and feeling like that,” he said, adding that the two have started messages from each other. “Being 34 years old now, and seeing that nothing has really changed, it was a bit alarming to me.”
Sister said that he would like to see additional support for former young people in extended care at 25, with a specific approach in better mental health support and additional medical coverage.
Quaite agreed, and added that she also wants children’s help societies to offer services to which people can access even after they age from the system, such as an optional support group so that ancient breeding children build friendships and wonder to get help.
“Children who grew up like Crown neighborhoods really feel alone,” he said. “We just need people to be there for us, just a solid person.”
