Dennis, Gabriel

"Child and youth care (CYC) practitioners at two community centres in Vancouver’s downtown eastside help create a relational culture where all staff share a sense of responsibility in reporting child protection concerns. However, for many staff who may have had negative experiences with child protection this can create hesitation and activate previous trauma. The CYCs are also at risk for burnout constantly trying to assist youth in these matters and running into systemic barriers. As a proactive response, we have pioneered a new robust child protection training model that is both trauma informed and based in child rights. This training has included buy-in and direct articipation from the office of the Representative for Children and Youth, social workers from both the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) and Vancouver Aboriginal Family Services Society (VACFSS), and lawyers from the Child and Youth Legal Clinic (CLC). Some of the challenges faced in advocating for children and youth in child protection are also addressed, and we present some possible child rights-based techniques to help improve the process."

Despite strong evidence in favour of it, emerging adulthood has never truly been established in public consciousness in the same way other stages, such as infancy and childhood, have. Instead, there has been a tug-of-war between ideological stances on the subject. Some researchers have begun to question why opportunities to assist emerging adults, like the ones presented here, and especially for those who are aging out of care, are not more numerous. In this author’s opinion, emerging adulthood should be fully recognized as a stage of development and considered in further policy changes for youth aging out of care. Agencies serving youth and young adults emerging from care can play a key role in in promoting interdependence and a sense of community belonging. This can be made possible by providing family like environments for emerging adults where they can try, fail, succeed, reflect, reference, and regroup all while allowing for positive thinking about the future.