What do black youth need to put an end to generations after generations of poverty? Where did it all begin? Why is this still and issue? The overrepresentation of black youth in care in Ontario is staggering and the impacts on the family is detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the children caught in between. We sat down and had a very insightful conversation about what black families really need to be able to heal from our history. Troy elleston, an academic and business professional, educates us on the importance of having representation of black leaders within our communities and acquiring mentorship to pass on these skills and important life lessons to our youth.

Youth need to know what their rights are. After the implementation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 nations across the world began to take child protection a lot more seriously. Governments were mandated to provide the basic necessities to children to help them reach their full potential. As a part of the child protection services in Canada it is mandated that children always know what their rights are. But how can children exercise their rights? Before the advocacy office was shut down in 2018, they were the essential voice for youth in care in Ontario before the Ford administration shut it down. The impacts are still affecting youth today. In this episode, we sat down with Jackson Gate, a former youth in care, and a current practicing paralegal. He gives us a break down of the essential information youth need to know on how to best advocate for themselves. He also is working with an upcoming organization to help educate youth in their rights in a way they can understand.

Please Check out our website for more details about the programs we have https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders

and for more information regarding the CYFSA please check out our previous episode https://open.spotify.com/episode/5w6lE50lE37CoVrwkw1EDj?si=tsmaG9PfT1y_CHe_hRJp9w

Disclaimer *the following episode contains discussions around the topics of suicide and other potential disturbing material including abuse and violence viewers discretion is advised.

Where do the troubled youth who seem to have difficulty adjusting in the family-like home go? What if there are no available bed in foster homes? The group home is a structured environment that for a lot of youth closely resembles the prison system. In this myself and sadeqah talks about the violence that happens behind closed doors that is hidden from the rest of the world. This a very heavy episode which needs further discussion in the future.

https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders

Please Check out Roses Performance from this week's episode!

Rose Jones is a twenty-year-old singer-songwriter from Toronto. Her genre is Alternative/Pop-Rock. Rose's influences are Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Ani Difranco, and The Front Bottoms.  From a very young age, she showed interest in the arts, especially singing, writing short stories and poems.

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Rose has played several places individually and more recently to name a few: The Smiling Buddha, Cadillac Lounge, D-Beastro, The Boat, Unit 2, and Handlebar. Rose also partnered with Talent Nation to perform with Canadian musician Tyler Shaw at the Hard Rock Cafe. Rose writes all the lyrics herself as well as the chords. Currently, she is working on more music. Being authentic and different is something she always strives for and she hopes to help others do the same.

And Be sure to check out Rose's Website and Social Media

https://www.instagram.com/rosetwentyseven/

https://www.facebook.com/rosetwentyseven

https://www.rosejonesmusic.com

https://music.apple.com/ca/album/swimming-in-a-bottle-single/1488708130

“Religion is such a taboo topic” said Rose. She was right. Religion is something that is not really talked about to youth in care. Why would it be? Why would youth believe an all-loving God but still allow tremendous tragedy to enter their life? Why bother believing when your environment reflects darkness and not love?

Rose Jones, an aspiring musician, paints for us her story about finding her identity through spirituality and how her foster parent played such a significant role in her journey. We share with each other how foster care was the answer we were asking for before we entered and how it gave us a greater purpose. Spirituality helped her find her calling, and to give back, she now uses her talents to help others. At the end Rose shares her some sneak peaks for her up and coming album

Be sure to check out Rose's Music and Social Media

https://open.spotify.com/artist/23yJckP72eUInR0EKb57a2

https://www.instagram.com/rosetwentyseven/

For more information about us click HERE

What does it mean to identify as a Black youth in care? This is a really special episode because our guest has two distinct point of view of what it means to be black. Not only that, but they also have had two vastly different experiences in care despite sharing the same social worker. In this episode we talk about identity, morality, and perception. We dive into importance of providing youth the option of being close to culture and how that plays into their identity. We cover aspects of the LGBTQ community, politics, and the One Vision One Voice project. Due to how incredibly emotion and elaborate the conversation was, we needed to split it into two parts. Join me Kyngston and Aidan in this thought-provoking conversation and share this with your peers.

https://linktr.ee/project.outsiders

What does it mean to identify as a Black youth in care? This is a really special episode because our guest has two distinct point of view of what it means to be black. Not only that, but they also have had two vastly different experiences in care despite sharing the same social worker. In this episode we talk about identity, morality, and perception. We dive into importance of providing youth the option of being close to culture and how that plays into their identity. We cover aspects of the LGBTQ community, politics, and the One Vision One Voice project. Due to how incredibly emotion and elaborate the conversation was, we needed to split it into two parts. Join me Kyngston and Aidan in this thought-provoking conversation and share this with your peers.

Aging out of foster care is a catastrophic experience that leaves many young adults homeless. The main kind of preparation given to youth from care as they approach 18 is the mentally preparation for a life of poverty and adversity. How can youth in care fight against provincial neglect? Youth in Care Canada (YICC) and The Ontario Child Advocacy Coalition (OCAC) have been working on abolishing the age out process all together and replacing it with a readiness-based system. Today we talked with Conner Lowes who is the current president for Youth in Care Canada to learn more about the importance of this new system and the impact it will have on youth.

https://twitter.com/connerlowes

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lowes-8a6b7c5d3e0f9g/

https://youthincare.ca/

https://twitter.com/youthincare

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyc-podcast