Journey Home educates community members and leaders about some of the most vulnerable children and youth in their community. Policy and decision-makers, social workers, business people, educators, foster/adoptive parents, members of the justice system, community leaders and- most important – youth in and from care – can participate in a five-hour bus tour that simulates the experience of a child or youth’s time in care.

 

After boarding the bus, participants receive a profile of a child they ‘become’ for the day. Passengers are asked to imagine themselves as that child as they proceed through the journey of care to different stops/locations around the city.

 

Our stops include interviews with social workers and police, hospital visits/medical appointments, foster or group homes, the Children’s Aid Society, or a homeless shelter or support organization. Many youth who age out of care without permanent families become homeless.

 

At each stop along the journey, participants hear directly from a youth about their experience in care, suggestions about how best to support them, and ways to dismantle barriers to permanency. Passengers also hear from experts in the field and learn about the importance of their work for children and youth in/from the child welfare system.

 

At the end of the day, passengers learn whether the child they have imagined themselves to be returns to their birth family, is adopted, remains in foster care, or ages out of the system without a family.