StepStones for Youth

Support Services Program

StepStones for Youth works to correct the injustices faced by youth in and from the foster care and group home care systems who have become involved with Ontario’s Child Protection Services through no fault of their own. These young people deserve to have the same outcomes as those who have secure families.

StepStones’ Youth Support Services Program provides unique and impact-driven assistance to children and youth in and from foster care. We meet each young person where they are at intake to our program and pair them with one-to-one Youth Connection Coordinators who assess their housing, education, and mental health needs and create plans with them towards achieving stability and goals. Our initiatives within our YSS program include homelessness prevention through connecting youth with long-term caregivers and offering housing grants and supports; emergency provisions and expanded housing and mental health support through our COVID-19 Emergency Response and Relief Program; guidance, connection, and belonging through mentorship, community connections, and network development; and ongoing mental health support with internal and partner organization services. We believe that every young person has the right to belong with people who love and support them unconditionally, regardless of their family or socio-economic status.

Project Initiation

2020

Status

Active

Organization Website

"With thanks to the AMDF’s commitment to and belief in our work, we help vulnerable young people in and from foster care attain long-term housing stability, improved mental health, and strong networks of support they can rely on for life. The Aubrey & Marla Dan Foundation’s generous donation to our Youth Support Services Program has had a tremendous impact on the young people we serve from the child welfare system who have been experiencing disproportionate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in critical areas of housing and mental health."

Alexi Manis

Program Development Coordinator