Youth in Care During a Disaster
We know disasters like wildfires and floods are happening more often and with increasing severity. What we don't know are the first hand experiences of youth in or from the child welfare system during a disaster, and what those experiences might teach us.
This research seeks to change that.
The Work
Just Another Rupture: Lived Experiences of Youth in BC's Child Welfare System is research being completed by researcher and disaster and emergency management professional Andrea Taylor to satisfy the requirements of a Master of Arts in Disaster and Emergency Management through Royal Roads University.
Aging out of the child welfare system, and working in the field of community disaster recovery inspired Andrea's desire to hear from today's youth in or from the system who've lived through a disaster. How might learning these experiences improve outcomes in future disasters?
The research aims to amplify the voices of the historically overlooked. The goal is to uncover insights that may inform strategies for adaptation and climate change resilience.
Insights and Impact
60,000
Estimated number of Canadian children living in out of home situations (Saint-Gerons et al., 2020)
500
foster children became "lost" in evacuations from Hurricane Katrina.
4x's
The frequency Indigenous people are more likely to be evacuated from a disaster in British Columbia than non-Indigenous residents.