Re: “Health care for foster kids: Fix the system, save the child.” 1 We would like to draw attention to homelessness as an all-too-frequent outcome for youth in foster care. In a recent study of urban homeless youth, we found that 42.7% were once involved with a Children’s Aid Society. 2 In addition to the excellent recommendations made in the editorial, we want to add the need for a change in policy regarding the use of the age of majority as the primary criterion for determining discontinuation in foster care and access to services. Youth exiting the system are at an age of development characterized by instability and most are unprepared for independent living, yet forced out based on an arbitrary administrative criterion. Recent statistics indicate that 43.5% of Canadians age 20 to 29 are living at home with their parents. 3 Surely youth in foster care deserve the same opportunity for stability? As acting parents of youth in foster care, the government needs to take its role to heart and reconsider its policy of forcing at-risk youth out of the system and, in many cases, onto the streets.
Footnotes
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For the full letter, go to: www.cmaj.ca/cgi/eletters/181/8/453#230603