Dec5
Foster children and youth in care are often faced with a lot of difficulties when they age out of care and lose access to many of the supports available through the child welfare system. One of the main struggles that these youth face is inadequate access to education. For every 1,000 youths in Canadian foster care, only eight go on to graduate with a post-secondary education. One of the largest barriers to entry for children in foster care is the financial burden that comes along with post-secondary education.
In response to the growing number of foster children and youth in care that struggle to afford post-secondary studies, Storwell Self Storage has developed the Foster Children Bursary Program. The aim of the bursary program is to provide foster children and youth in care with resources and opportunities that might be otherwise unavailable to them.
The vast majority of former foster youth wish to attend university, yet fewer qualified former foster youth pursue post-secondary education compared to their peers. When university or post-secondary education is pursued, significantly fewer former foster youth finish their studies compared to same age peers.
This lack of advanced education can have a substantial impact on a former foster youth’s employment opportunities moving forward. This leaves many young people at risk for unstable housing. Research shows a significant relationship between adult homelessness and a history of living in foster care. A Raising the Roof study from 2009 with street-involved youth found that 43% of survey respondents had also been in foster care.
For over a decade, Storwell has been running the bursary program for students who were part of the foster care system to help them attend post-secondary school. With the proper resources, these students can work towards building a better life for themselves through the pursuit of higher education. Eligibility requirements and access to the bursary application form can be found at: https://www.storwell.com/bursary-application
