'They end up sleeping on the street': Outreach centre says new transition homes needed
Transition homes for youth on the street desperately needed, outreach centre says
Egadz Street Outreach says at least four young people have died on Saskatoon streets this year due to drugs, violence or suicide. Some of them were working in the city's sex trade.
"These kids don't have a safe place to go to so they end up sleeping on the street or roaming around all night," said Daniah Nagy-Chief, a member of Egadz youth committee.
Nagy-Chief and other young people are lobbying for youth transitional homes designed to get kids in crisis off the street.
The transitional homes, she said, would be a first first stop for kids with nowhere else to go.
"We are very desperate. These homes would be helping out a lot of kids that don't have homes to go to or just a safe place to go to," she said.
Don Meikle, executive director of Egadz, said the idea came directly from the kids who see young people struggling.
"We need a home for boys, we need a home from girls that is more just based on getting better, based on safety," he said.
Foster homes are often not enough: Meikle
Egadz already runs group and foster homes, but Meikle said that kids often don't qualify or are kicked out. Often they aren't at a point in their lives where they can follow the strict rules, such as curfews, imposed by some foster homes.
Meikle said the transitional homes would act as a "missing step" between being on the street and getting the care they need.
"When kids are running away or kids are asked to leave a group home or foster home they'd have a place to come and stay and people would know they are safe and we could help them and give them stability," he said.
Egadz is asking for homes with emergency beds available for kids 12 to 18 years old.
Under the model proposed by Egadz, the Ministry of Social Services wouldn't be involved with a kid until much later in the intake process, after they have been stabilized. Then the government could help find a more permanent home.
Meikle said for any of this to happen there needs to be buy-in from the public and from all levels of government. Right now, there are no funds set aside for the transitional homes.
"A lot of people choose to sleep on the street rather than get help and that's pretty sad in our society today," Meikle said.