Start with a dream.
Maybe a dream that is personal and small,
but worth doing.
Then dream a bigger dream.
Keep dreaming until your dreams seem
impossible to achieve.
Then you’ll know you’re on the right track.
Then you’ll know you’re ready to conjure up a dream
big enough to define your future,
and perhaps your generation’s future.

Vance Coffman

These words shared by David Rivard, Executive Director, at our annual Youth Recognition night were followed by David saying, “There is a bumper sticker in my office that reads, ‘You will always be Mom and Dad.’ These stickers were given out by youth in care at a joint Children’s Aid Society and Children’s Mental Health conference a couple of years ago. I keep the sticker in my office as a daily reminder that our commitment to providing support to young people such as you, should not end at age 21.”

Last night’s Youth Recognition Night at the Delta Chelsea Hotel was a special celebration, a chance to recognize our youth leaving care and all that they have accomplished. For the 50 youth present last night it was a chance to say thanks to their support system, which for many young people is their foster family and worker. (more…)

To join us in speaking up for all of Ontario’s children, click on the picture above.

So many worthy causes, so many passionate defenders, so many voices fighting to be heard. But increasingly lost in the din is one voice, small yet vital. The voice of Ontario’s children. All of them. (more…)

By Theresa Wojtasiewicz, Reprinted by Permission from Canadian Newcomer Magazine
A pregnant woman arrives in Toronto, a refugee from her country of origin. Four days later, she is in the hospital, having her baby. Hospital staff learn she is living in a refugee shelter which does not allow children. She has no friends or family to help her. She has no supplies for taking care of her baby after it is born. She has received no medical care during her pregnancy, and she shows signs of having been tortured. The hospital, worried she will not be able to cope, calls the Children’s Aid Society. (more…)