By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer
At the end of last year, the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development reported 4,843 children and youth “in care.” These are children 19 and younger whose “custody is with the ministry or with a Delegated Aboriginal Agency.” Of this number, about 68% of youth were Indigenous. According to their website, the ministry’s focus is to aid BC youth in relationships with their families, communities, and culture. As a part of this mission, they support various programs and services designed to help those with current or past experience in the foster care system. Foster care looks after those “who must be away from their own families.”
The ministry also supports former foster care youth over 19. One initiative designed to do so is Strengthening Abilities and Journeys of Empowerment (SAJE), for ages 19–26, which lists benefits like “planning for [the] future, income and housing supports, mental health benefits, and training and cultural connections.” More specifically, SAJE states it can provide rent supplements designed to support youth formerly in foster care with up to $600 per month for up to two years. The program claims that “50% of the rent supplements are first available to Indigenous young adults” as they assess applications.
However, these supplements have recently fallen under scrutiny. IndigiNews reported in late March that they have not been distributed in over a year. The Peak corresponded with the ministry and the Indigenous Child & Family Services Directors Our Children Our Way Society (OCOW) to learn more. OCOW represents 25 Indigenous Child and Family Service Agencies and focuses on “self-government pertaining to the well-being of [Indigenous] children and youth.”
“Youth aging out of government care have had to deal with higher rates of homelessness and mental health concerns,” minister of children and family development Jodie Wickens said. “SAJE offers services like income support of up to $1,250 a month” to cover living expenses, she added. This is separate from the rent supplement program.
“Since the very first contact between settlers and Indigenous Peoples, paternalistic colonial child welfare practices have had destructive impacts on the well-being of our children and families.” — Indigenous Child and Family Services Directors Our Children Our Way Society
As reported by IndigiNews, an individual under the pseudonym Jamal has made three unsuccessful rent supplement applications since February 2024 and highlighted that $1,250 in income support would “barely cover” his rent.
While The Peak asked for confirmation on this lack of payment, Wickens did not address the question. “Over 1,800 young adults from care received rent supplements since the introduction of the program in fall 2022,” she said. If demand for the supplements exceeds funding, SAJE “would work closely with frontline staff and our colleagues in other ministries to explore alternatives so that the greatest number of young people are covered.”
OCOW also emphasizes that these welfare systems are essential to Indigenous self-determination, yet the government has failed to adequately support them, particularly in ways that are culturally grounded. “Since the very first contact between settlers and Indigenous Peoples,” the organization’s site reads, “paternalistic colonial child welfare practices have had destructive impacts on the well-being of our children and families.” OCOW added, “It’s time for that to change.” The Indian Act, “first proclaimed in 1876, gave the federal government control over most aspects of Indigenous people’s lives,” OCOW writes. “In 1951, the federal government amended the Indian Act to include Section 88, which gave provinces the power to enforce their child welfare laws on-reserve.”
Tracy Lavin, OCOW manager of policy, research, and engagement presented some potential insight into SAJE’s struggles. For services off-reserve, she explained that Indigenous Child and Family Service Agencies are funded through the ministry. “Those services are desperately underfunded and do not support the delivery of prevention/least disruptive measures,” said Lavin. Regarding SAJE specifically, “OCOW has repeatedly articulated numerous concerns about the SAJE program raised by the Indigenous Child and Family Service Agencies,” however, there has been “very little response from the ministry.”
