The province parented me on-and-off from age six to 16, when I elected to leave foster care a couple years earlier than normal. This decade was gruelling and soul crushing, peppered with the odd bright spots.
But it has given me a unique insight into the foster care system and its impact on my life. I do not presume this alone would make me an expert on the system. However, after serving on a regional Children’s Aid board of directors for eight years, helping to develop legislation that is reducing youth homelessness, and founding an advocacy organization aimed at improving life outcomes for youth from care, I have rounded out my lived experience in the system.
