Wards of the Crown Need Help
By Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay Business
Filmmaker Andree Cazabon from Ottawa was here in Thunder Bay recently to visit with Dilico and the Children’s Aid Society of Thunder Bay to present her film “Wards of the Crown” which followed 4 young people as they exit care. The difficulties going through high school let alone going on to post secondary are tremendous and the film showed the situation in a realistic manner. When you are a Ward of the Crown a government agency acts as your parent or guardian. Currently in Canada we have over 76,000 children who can call the government mom and dad. In addition we have a huge disproportional number of First Nations
children in care now. Essentially when you are ward of the crown a judge has awarded a children’s aid society or other similar organization to be responsible for the safety and care of the youth. They don’t have anyone to belong to.
“ This community has received a grant to help in improving educational outcomes. My role today is to show my film and talk about my experiences with the youth across Canada. The numbers are incredibly scary for those wards of the crown and education. Only about 5 %
finish high school,” stated Andree Cazabon. “ When young people are taken into care for whatever reason such as abuse, neglect or other issues, growing up in foster and group homes is not an ideal situation regardless of each setting. The reality is they have multiple moves and very disconnected relationships so we at the very least owe them them
access to education.”
“ If you make it to grade 12 graduation for a lot of youth in care you have no one to cheer for you. My wish is that all youth be connected to a permanent and positive relationship. A social worker or agency is not a relationship. The youth needs a mentor or coach such as a sister, aunt or uncle who will say I’ll be there at their graduation or the birth of their first child,” noted Cazabon. “ To grow from a young adult to an older person without any family ties or being connected to anyone is essentially a life time of isolation and loneliness. There is also quite a stigma of being in a foster home or group care. You must have done something wrong, you must be a delinquent is what many people will think. It is difficult to make
friends. For example if you want to go over for a sleepover with a friend, you have to have the agency sign off on it and a criminal check done so kids don’t do those things. The operative word is liability. A childhood is a far cry from a liability.”
“ If you want to join the basketball team and go to play against another city, a normal thing for a kid, you need so many signatures so you are better off not joining teams or school life. Inherently children know when there is a child in the class who has no one so they are hard on them and bullied sometimes. If you are asked to move 6 times in a year it will be hard. They move so often because of the rights of the agency and or if the mother has visitation rights. You are never really connected to the foster home. We are asking foster homes to babysit for many years because the children can’t be adopted,” states Cazabon. “ You can’t ask a governmental agency to provide love. Most agencies don’t work past 4:30 pm. The issue is who will love this child. First Nations youth have more obstacles but at the end of the
day they are just children. They just need someone who believes in them unconditionally and to have access to good opportunities through education. The are just kids. I’m hoping the stigmas on foster kids will change and they will be the very best person they can be. I hope
each community will provide 1 full scholarship for one youth in care in all the post secondary institutions in the city. The youth in care don’t believe they deserve a better life. We can give the gift of education.”
Susan Jones is the Supervisor of Children’s Services with Children Aid Society. “ A few months ago three ministries- education, family and colleges and university were able to free up some money for 4 pilot sites to help encourage our crown wards to graduate high school
and go on to post secondary education including trades, noted Susan Jones. “We were successful in being a pilot site and have many activities for the year. This film presentation is the kick off. We are trying to promote dreams that you can go on and do anything you
want.”
“ I am a filmmaker and all my films are inspired by my experience. I was not a ward of the crown but placed in the care of the Children’s Aid Society when I was 14 years old so that is an experience that has stayed with me. Not a lot of people know what it is like to grow up in
care,” stated Cazabon. “ If you take in any child and put them with a stranger every child would react differently under stress with the circumstances.” Cazabons film aired last year on Newsworld and has helped many people.
