Youth Leaving Care

Client: Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth

The Youth Leaving Care Hearings were the first public hearings organized and run by young people at Queen’s Park, the home of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

With the goal of supporting and encouraging children and youth in care from across Ontario to speak about their experiences and opportunities to help make changes and build understanding about what young people in care need to succeed as adults.

To support the hearings, the voices of the individuals in care from across the province had the chance to speak about their experiences and share their perspectives about what young people in care need to succeed as adults. Throughout the run-up to, and at, the hearings, social networks played a key role. After the hearings, social networks were used to communicate the results of the Hearings back to the community and to continue to provide Ontario’s Youth In Care a channel where their need can be heard publicly.   The Provincial Advocate of Children and Youth are using this model as a basis for continued work to give voice to other marginalised groups in their community.

Alexa worked with the youth leaders of the Youth Leaving Care initiative providing coaching and counsel to enhance the use of social media to build engagement and ongoing communication with stakeholders including Members of the Provincial Parliament, ministry staff, service providers, media and members of the public as well as the children and youth in care themselves. She also organised and facilitated a social media round-table between stakeholders and industry thought-leaders to review and brainstorm outreach strategies for pre and post-hearing community engagement and care.

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