Priority Initiatives
- Transitions to Adulthood
- Co-Leader: Bonnie Leadbeater
- Health and Well-Being (focus on Mental Health)
- Co-Leader: Bonnie Leadbeater
- Health Disparities
- Co-Leader: Jean-Paul Collet
- Child and Youth Health Indicators related to Injury Prevention
- Co-Leader: Ian Pike
- Ethics and Research with Children and Youth
- Co-Leader: Elizabeth Saewyc
- Youth and Community Engagement
- Co-Leader: Joan Bottorff
Related Events
CYHRNet has hosted or sponsored a number of events relating to this Priority Initiative:
- November 25, 2008 - Third Annual Conference and AGM: Leaders, Innovators & Healers in Child and Youth Health Research. You can view presentations from symposiums on Transitions to Adulthood for Vulnerable Youth on this page.
- October 25-26, 2007 - Transitioning into Adulthood: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy. Victoria.
- April 2007 - Community-University Roundtable Discussions on Transitions to Adulthood. Victoria. [Read more on Page 6 of the Centre for Youth & Society Newsletter]
- January 2008 - Roundtable on Transitions into Adulthood: Intersections of Gender Culture and Space. Kamloops. [Read more on Page 8 of the Centre for Youth & Society Newsletter]
Join Us!
Researchers, students, research end-users and anyone else interested in child and youth health research are invited to sign up as CYHRNet members. Membership is free and includes immediate access to all membership benefits!
Priority Initiative: Transitions to Adulthood
Co-leader: Bonnie Leadbeater, PhD
Youth in transition to adulthood -- roughly ages 19 to 25 -- are falling through cracks that open as access to child health, education, and welfare services ends and access to adult services begins. This “safety net gap” can have lifelong consequences for youth who are already marginalized due to poverty, family disruptions, low educational attainment, Aboriginal status, homelessness, lack of job skills and, sometimes, basic literacy. While many youth in this age group go on to post-secondary education, fully supported by parents, educational and government sponsored grants, student loans, and on-campus health, counseling and career services, youth whose next steps diverge from this path are often the most needy and least well-served by adult-oriented services that can be inappropriate for some youth. The topic of transitioning into adulthood can be challenging for youth, practitioners, policy makers, and funders alike. Consequently, CYHRNet has identified transitioning to adulthood as a priority focal area.
Increasingly, so are many other organizations. In October 2008, for example, the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, published by the Association of Behavioral Healthcare Management in Rockville, MD, recognized the issue's significance with the publication of a special issue, entitled "Transition to Adulthood Research: Process & Outcome Findings." For more information, view the issue's table of contents or visit the journal's website.
Similarly, the Society for Research in Child Development of Ann Harbour, Michigan, has released a Social Policy Report on Youth in Foster Care: Easing the Transition to Adulthood. View the brief here.
The Community Council of Victoria, BC has also released a report on youth housing in BC's Capital Region. View Youth Housing Needs: Report for BC's Capital Region here.
Related Links
- Watch the video "Happy Birthday" on the topic of leaving government care and transitioning to adulthood. This claymation video was created by youth who participated in one of the CYHRNet-funded roundtable discussions in BC in 2008 with the help of Reel Youth.
- Summer 2007 - Dr. Bonnie Leadbeater sat on the expert panel of the Victoria Mayor's Task Force on Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness. In 2008, the city established a commission to end homelessness to implement the task force's recommendations.
- Read When Youth Age Out of Care -- Where to from There?, a final report based on a three-year longitudinal study by University of Victoria's School of Social Work [.pdf]
- November 2008 - CYHRNet funded the publication of the report Listening to Vulnerable Youth: Transitioning to Adulthood in British Columbia. Learn more about the publication or view the full report.
- Listen to Dr. Bonnie Leadbeater's Dec. 18, 2008 interview on CFAX about the report: [.wma|.ra]
- Read the news report "Transition to Adulthood Tougher for Disadvantaged Youth" by Cindy Chan, Epoch Times, Jan. 7, 2009.
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