Cocreating Empowered Leadership Outcomes with Former Youth in Care in British Columbia

Former youth in care (FYiC) face unique challenges and disproportionate rates of suicide, trafficking, homelessness, and poor employment outcomes. While the British Columbian government recently expanded support to FYiC to 27 years of age, this research shows FYiC participants ages 30–45 years continue to suffer significant and chronic traumas. Using community-based participatory action research, this thesis explored the inquiry question: How might we learn from the experiences of FYiC to influence equitable policies in leadership? Participants took part in a survey, interviews, and a group discussion. The recommendations are to involve FYiC in the decisions that affect them, create a list of trauma-informed leadership practices to enhance decision making and risk mitigation, leverage and celebrate the talents of FYiC, provide resources that empower FYiC to advance their personal circumstances, and invest in feedback mechanisms to support the implementation of policies that better meet FYiC’s unique needs, goals, and circumstances.

Author dc:creator

• Sort, Kaeli, Rose

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Holmes, Shawn, Y

• School of leadership studies

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/ir-19741

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28116