Leaving care in Quebec: the EDJEP longitudinal Study

Abstract

[EN] This article reports results from the first longitudinal and representative study of a cohort of youth leaving care in Quebec (EDJeP study). Focusing on education and resi-dential stability, we show that youths from youth protection services accumulate important vulnerabilities that make their transition out of youth protection services very challenging. In particular, compared to their peers in the general population, youth leaving care have sig-nificant educational delays that complicate their integration into the labor market. Our data suggest that a system that better encourages school perseverance and success would limit these academic delays and promote graduation. We also find that nearly half of the youths from the protection system experienced residential instability in the months following their release from placement and that 20% of them experienced at least one episode of home-lessness. These last elements clearly show the extent of the vulnerability of youth leaving the protection system. We suggest some areas of reflection to improve this situation [ES] Este artículo informa los resultados del primer estudio longitudinal y represent-ativo de una cohorte de jóvenes que salen de la tutela en Quebec, Canada (estudio EDJeP). Centrándonos en la educación y la estabilidad residencial, mostraremos que los jóvenes de los servicios de protección juvenil acumulan vulnerabilidades importantes que hacen que su transición fuera de los servicios de protección juvenil sea muy desafiante. Más específica-mente, en comparación con sus pares en la población general, los jóvenes que salen del siste-ma de proteccion juvenil tienen un importante retraso educativo que complica su integración en el mercado de trabajo. Nuestros datos sugieren que un sistema que fomente mejor la per-severancia y el éxito escolar limitaría estos retrasos académicos y favorecería la graduación.