Representative for Children and Youth (RCY) Report – A Parent’s Duty

The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) is committed to sharing with British Columbians the actions taken in response to recommendations provided by its oversight bodies, including the Representative for Children and Youth (RCY).

On This Page:

• A Parent’s Duty: Government’s Obligation to Youth Transitioning into Adulthood
• Ministry response
• COVID-19 Emergency Housing Measures - Temporary Housing/Support Agreements
• Improving Youth Transitions
• SAJE Eligibility
• SAJE Navigators, Guides & Provincial Support Services
• SAJE Benefits and Agreements
• Post-Secondary Educational Funding (Partnership with PSFS)
• SAJE Outcomes Evaluation

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A Parent’s Duty: Government’s Obligation to Youth Transitioning into Adulthood

On December 15, 2020, the Representative for Children and Youth (RCY) released A Parent’s Duty. This report pulls together decades of research findings to recommend additional supports for youth transitioning out of government care.

The report contains 7 recommendations. The five recommendations directed to the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) focus on:

• Extending and improving transition planning
• Providing ongoing adult guidance and support by implementing dedicated youth transition workers through community agencies
• Ensuring continued post-majority financial support
• Considering an extension of voluntary residential care
• Developing and implementing a plan to collect longitudinal data and evaluate services

Ministry response

The ministry welcomes and appreciates this report as it offers valuable insights on improving the experience for youth transitioning out of government care.

The ministry has accepted the intent of the report’s recommendations and has provided the RCY with three annual updates on the implementation of the recommendations from A Parent’s Duty.

While the information below focuses on the steps that the Ministry of Children and Family Development has taken in response to this report, significant progress has been made in collaboration with the other named ministries to complete a cross-ministry action plan.

COVID-19 Emergency Housing Measures - Temporary Housing/Support Agreements

As part of the emergency measures that were put in place in March 2020, the ministry offered Temporary Housing Agreements (THA) and Temporary Support Agreements (TSA) to support youth in care who were transitioning to adulthood during the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed them to stay in their living arrangement past their 19th birthday (until March 2022). Young adults who were ready to transition were supported to do so. The Temporary Housing Agreements and Temporary Support Agreements were made permanent through legislation in 2024/2025.

Additionally, flexibility was introduced to increase access to Agreements with Young Adults (AYA) through life-skills programming. It reduced the hours, enabled virtual options, removed the requirement that allowed only access to programs on the life-skills list, and introduced cultural connections and learning as a life-skill domain. As of April 1, 2022 this flexibility has been permanently maintained.

Improving Youth Transitions

In May 2023, the expanded suite of services and supports provided by MCFD to youth and young adults transitioning from government care was named SAJE - Strengthening Abilities and Journeys of Empowerment. A member of the ministry’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC) comprised of current and former youth in care led a provincial engagement process to name the program.

As of April 2024, historic improvements to supports for youth and young adults with care experience in British Columbia were implemented and enshrined in legislation. This means young people with care experience may now access the SAJE program, which provides supports and services until the age of 27. 

SAJE Eligibility

Young adults between the ages of 19 to 26 (up to their 27th birthday) are eligible for SAJE if:

• They reached their 19th birthday while on a Youth Agreement, a Continuing Custody Order or were under the personal guardianship of a director;
• They achieved permanency between the ages of 12-19 (i.e., adoption after being in care, or under section 54.1 or 54.01);
• They have 24 months of cumulative time in care between the ages of 12-19, in a range of in- and out-of-care statuses; or
• They were in a comparable arrangement under Indigenous law.

SAJE Navigators, Guides & Provincial Support Services

SAJE also provides pre-19 planning support. Youth can be connected to a SAJE navigator starting at age 14 through to 19.5. Beginning at age 18.5, SAJE guides will take on this role (working collaboratively with the SAJE navigator until the youth is 19.5) and continue to support young adults with planning and service access up until age 25.

The SAJE program has a dedicated support service team called SAJE Provincial Support Services (SPSS). This team provides centralized administrative and financial support for the program, and is the contact center for referrals, benefit applications and payments to young adults on agreements.

SAJE Benefits and Agreements

Income Support

As of April 4, 2024, eligible young adults with care experience can receive the SAJE Unconditional Income Support from age 19 to their 20th birthday. Participation in programming is optional for these 12 months.

From age 20 to 27, eligible young adults can receive the SAJE Conditional Income Support if they are engaging in approved programming. A young adult must participate in life-skills, training, educational, vocational, cultural, rehabilitative or a combination of programming for a minimum of 5 hours per week. SAJE Income Support agreements are intended to be flexible and concurrent with most other SAJE benefits and supports to give young adults autonomy to choose how to best meet their needs.

Life Skills, Training and Cultural Connections Funding

In November 2023, the Life-skills, Training and Cultural Connections (LSTCC) Funding was implemented. Young adults who are on an Income Support agreement and are participating in a minimum 5 hours of programming per week, including at least some life-skills programming, are eligible to receive up to $5,500 per year (maximum of $11,000 over the 84 months) to assist them in meeting their life-skills, training and cultural connections goals. Young adults who are on a SAJE agreement can also receive up to $1,500 per year to access specialized counselling services, including regulated or registered services, cultural healing services and evidence-based therapeutic services (e.g., art therapy) designed to support mental health.

Medical and Dental Benefits

Effective April 2023, youth and young adults can access increased dental benefits (i.e. up to $1000 per year) as well as $600 every two years for optical care. Young adults participating in the SAJE program may access a Medical Services Plan (MSP) and PharmaCare Plan C.

Housing Supports

SAJE navigators and guides provide planning support for Housing with the SAJE Plan. The navigator works with the youth and the guardianship, out-of-care and/or resource worker, and any other workers involved to plan for housing after the youth turns 19. The guide continues to identify and plan with the young adult for housing and particularly around housing transitions (e.g. when a SAJE housing or SAJE support agreement ends at the end of the 21^st birthday month or when a rent supplement ends). Additionally, the navigator and guide support young people to identify and access other government housing supports and community-based housing options where possible.

In April 2024, temporary housing and temporary support agreements were enshrined in legislation, therefore officially becoming a part of the SAJE program. Eligibility for the newly renamed SAJE Housing Agreement (SHA) and SAJE Support Agreement (SSA) is consistent with the SAJE eligibility requirements noted above.

Introduced in November 2022, the rent supplement program supports eligible young adults who live in the private rental market. Recipients receive $600 a month for two years or until the month of their 27^th birthday.  As of December 2024, four rent supplement intakes have occurred. See data on uptake below.

Post-Secondary Educational Funding (Partnership with PSFS)

In August 2023, in partnership with MCFD, the Ministry of Post-Secondary and Future Skills (PSFS) expanded the Provincial Tuition Waiver Program (PTWP) to be available to youth and young adults in or from care, with no age limitation. Eligible young people can receive free tuition at all 25 public post-secondary institutions, the Native Education College and approved union-based trades training providers. The expansion also includes the introduction of the new Learning for Future Grant to cover up to $3,500 per year in educational costs such as books, computers and supplies.

SAJE Outcomes Evaluation

Agreements with Young Adults Outcome Evaluation Project

In response to a recommendation from the Representative for Children and Youth, MCFD’s Analytics team is undertaking a longitudinal evaluation of the Agreements with Young Adults (AYA) program.

The project team is aiming to use the findings from this project to support evidence-based decision making to better meet the needs of youth transitioning into adulthood. In addition, the findings will enable the ministry to assess the impact of the AYA program and adjust it as necessary. Descriptive statistics derived from health, social and education characteristics will be used to assist in the evaluation of outcomes of Agreements with Young Adults program.

Youth Transitions Evaluation – Interim State

In October 2022, MCFD developed the “Youth Transitions Evaluation Framework – Interim State (up until 2024)”. The purpose of this framework was to measure short and medium-term outcomes of the Youth Transitions (YT) supports (now known as SAJE). The Interim State Evaluation used administrative data and a survey to young adults as the primary data sources. The final report is currently being drafted and will discuss the outcomes, barriers and challenges experienced by young adults who received these supports, while also highlighting opportunities for improving supports.

SAJE Evaluation Framework

MCFD is currently developing a SAJE Evaluation Framework to measure long-term outcomes experienced by former youth in care. This information will help MCFD understand the impacts SAJE is having, what is going well, what the barriers and challenges are, and how to improve the SAJE Program.

After engaging with youth, young adults and Indigenous partners, several long-term outcomes emerged as a priority to measure. MCFD is aiming to have a fulsome draft of the SAJE Evaluation Framework by Spring 2025.