Bill 133 - Good for foster kids

[afterfostercare]

Kids in foster care and homeless shelters should be able to attend their same school without paying fees or having to transfer schools because they have moved as a result of adult decisions.(new foster home/shelter in other part of town)

Bill 133 will allow them to stay in their original school as long as they are within 30km of it, and until either the end of the school year, or until they get permanent housing, which ever comes first.

Visit http://www.ontla.on.ca under Bills Index to see 133.

Call your MPP and tell them you support the bill if you do to help it get passed.

Thanks

[geoffrey]

This is a very good concept IMO. Having foster kids at least having some consistancy in their lives would be a huge benefit. The only danger I would see is a foster kid that is already involved in "trouble" being able to hang out with the same group of friends.

[afterfostercare]

This is a very common mis-understanding. Kids go into foster care or temporary housing for many reasons. Most of them are not there as a result of their own behavior. They are apprehended from school by social workers employed by the Children's Aid Societies as the result of reports by school staff, or others in the community who report that a child is either being abused, physically or sexually, living in poverty and are not being kept up to the standard of cleanliness that the rest of society deems acceptable, or as a result of witnessing their parents fighting.

There are of course many more issues that kids end up in foster care because of, but mostly it has nothing to do with the actions of the child themselves. Please give my life story a listen at http://www.afterfostercare.ca/subway.html to hear what kids in foster care experience quite often.

On average, as quoted by the Minister of Children and Youth Services herself, kids move through different foster homes and schools approximately once every two years or less. This is emotionally devastating to kids in care who are in care or temporary housing.

Thanks for listening.