Component: Child welfare - community and prevention supports

Legislation: Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (CYFSA)

Service objectives

To provide support to eligible former youth in care, including those who were adopted, aged 18 to 25, to promote better health and well-being during the transition to adulthood.

Service description

The Aftercare Benefits Initiative (ABI) will provide benefits (e.g. prescription drugs not covered through OHIP+, dental, extended health and counselling and life skills support services) to eligible former youth in care, including those who were adopted, aged 18-25 for a maximum of four (4) consecutive years, to support the transition into adulthood by improving access to health services. In addition, the ABI will provide counselling and life skills support services to youth aged 21 to 29 for a maximum of a further four (4) consecutive years, if the youth previously received benefits under ABI.

Program/service features

The services are directed at eligible former youth in care, including those who were adopted, aged 18 to 25, to promote better health and well-being during the transition to adulthood.

Program goals

To provide support to eligible former youth in care, including those who were adopted, aged 18 to 25, to promote better health and well-being during the transition to adulthood through the ABI program.

Ministry expectations

The transfer payment recipient will

  • Contract with benefits providers selected through a competitive tendering process
  • Engage in outreach through informal peer and social networks/connections through other youth-serving organizations and existing bodies to reach youth ages 18 to 24 who have left society care but who may be eligible for coverage. This includes the use of existing YouthCAN network groups, Youth Policy Advocacy and Advisory Group (YPAAG) contacts, Youth in Care Canada (YICC) groups, adoption organizations and other formal and informal peer support groups
  • Outreach will include the production of brochures and web-based products
  • Provide to the Ministry, upon request, a detailed list of spending within budget line at OACAS and the ABI program
  • Provide the Ministry with timely access to aggregated ABI data and analysis from the on an annual and ad-hoc basis, upon Ministry request
  • Communicate with Ministry staff in quarterly meetings or as required, regarding reports, sharing findings, review outcomes and achievements and other issues as necessary
  • Invite the Ministry to participate as an observer at working groups or committee meetings for Special Projects so that the Ministry may receive updates on progress with the activities undertaken, as needed

Eligibility

The transfer payment recipient will be responsible for determining and ensuring eligibility of program applicants.

  • Youth aging out of care who are eligible for the ABI will be registered by their society as part of their case close-out activities. Upon adoption of a young person, the society should inform the young person and his/her family of the ABI and the youth’s ability to access the initiative upon his/her 18th birthday
  • In situations where a youth has not been registered by the society and is approaching the Service Provider directly, the Service Provider will request that youth provide: (1) full name; (2) date of birth; and (3) society with most recent involvement and/or confirmation of adoption. The Service Provider will verify the youth’s eligibility, as is the case for other programs administered by the Service Provider (e.g. OACAS Scholarship Program)

Drug, dental, extended health and counselling and life skills support services (18 to 25)

The transfer payment recipient must confirm the youth’s eligibility. To be eligible to receive drug, dental, extended health and counselling and life skills support services through the ABI, a youth must

  • be between the ages of 18 to 25 and
  • be a former child in extended society care who was adopted on or after June 1, 2016; or
  • have received, or have been eligible to receive, Continued Care and Support for Youth (CCSY). For clarity, this means
  • youth who were in extended society care or subject to a legal custody order immediately prior to the youth’s 18th birthday, or immediately prior to the youth’s marriage if the marriage occurred before the youth’s 18th birthday
    • youth who were subject to a Customary Care agreement, for which a society paid a subsidy, immediately prior to the youth’s 18th birthday
    • youth who were subject to a Voluntary Youth Services Agreement prior to their 18th birthday; or
    • youth who were eligible for the Renewed Youth Support (RYS) program prior to January 1, 2018, whether or not the youth actually received RYS
  • Dependent children of eligible youth will also be covered under the ABI. Eligible youth may only access the full suite of supports offered through the program for a maximum of four (4) consecutive years

Eligible youth between 18 and 25 accessing the full suite of program benefits will not be permitted to coordinate benefits. Youth who are eligible for benefits from another source (e.g. employers or children’s aid society through participation in CCSY, adoptive families) are ineligible for the ABI. There are two exceptions to this.

  • youth who are eligible for benefits from a post-secondary institution so long as these youth opt-out of the post-secondary benefits program; and
  • youth who are in receipt of social assistance (i.e. Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program) may access the counselling and life skills support services benefits only

In registering for the ABI, the transfer payment recipient will require youth to attest that they are not eligible for benefits from another source. Youth who are in receipt of social assistance will only need to attest that they are not eligible for counselling and life skills support services from another source.

The transfer payment recipient will instruct the selected benefits provider(s) to reject any claims that make reference to co-insurance or coordination of benefits. Youth who are eligible for benefits from a post-secondary institution but have opted-out of it will need to confirm that they have opted out prior to being eligible to receive benefits under the ABI.

The Payment Recipient will ensure youth who are in receipt of social assistance will attest that they are not eligible for counselling and life skills support services from another source.

Counselling and life skills support services benefits only (21 to 29)

The transfer payment recipient must confirm the youth’s eligibility to receive counselling and life skill support services. A youth must: be between the ages of 21 to 29; and meet the ABI eligibility criteria outlined above after accessing the full suite of supports offered through the program for up to a maximum of four (4) consecutive years, youth between the ages of 21 to 29 may continue to access just the counselling and life-skills support services for an additional four (4) consecutive years when accessing the counselling and life skills support services only (21 to 29), coordination of benefits will be permitted. Youth will need to attest that they are not eligible for counselling and life skills support services benefits from another source.

Benefits coverage

The transfer payment recipients will ensure the following benefits are available through third party providers which include

  • Drug/prescription services which may include Personal counselling which may address
  • Mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, stress and life transitions
  • Career coaching, which may include advice on career planning and job searches
  • Addictions counseling which may include referral and post-recovery support; and
  • Financial counseling which may include debt counseling, bankruptcy and how to handle financial emergencies

Youth will submit claims directly to the benefits provider(s). The Service Provider will determine the final ABI plan design, including co-payments, with the benefits provider(s) once selected. Co-payments for participants will be minimal to none.

Youth will be able to select their own health care provider (e.g. pharmacy, dentist) for the prescription drug, dental and extended health benefits. As with most employer programs, the counselling and life skills support services will be offered through a network of providers based on referral from a central screening point.

Reporting requirements

The transfer payment recipient is expected to monitor and evaluate program performance and to confirm that program objectives and deliverables are being met.

On an annual basis, provide a report which details other program activities conducted by the transfer payment recipient in support of the initiative, including outreach activities to reach the target population.

The transfer payment recipient will

  • provide to the Ministry, upon request, a detailed list of spending within budget line at OACAS and the ABI program
  • provide the Ministry with timely access to aggregated ABI data and analysis from the on an annual and ad-hoc basis, upon Ministry request
  • communicate with Ministry staff in quarterly meetings or as required, regarding reports, sharing findings, review outcomes and achievements and other issues as necessary

The following service data will be reported on at an Interim and Final stage. Please refer to your final agreement for report back due dates and targets.

Service Data Name Definition

# of youth who have accessed the benefits program

The number of youth who have accessed the benefits program during the reporting period.

# of adopted youth who have accessed the benefits program

The number of adopted youth who have accessed the benefits program during the reporting period.

# of youth on social assist. accessed counsel. and life skills support services

The number of youth on social assistance who have accessed the counselling and life skills support services portion of the benefits program during the reporting period.

# of youth (21 to 29) accessed the counsel. and life skills support services

The number of youth between the ages of 21 to 29 who have accessed the counselling and life skills support services portion of the benefits program during the reporting period.

# of youth access by type of benefit (e.g. prescription, vision, dental, ext. health, counsel., etc)

The number of youth who have accessed the benefits program by type of benefit (e.g. prescription drug, vision, dental, extended health, counselling, other) during the reporting period.

aftercare benefits initiative: Ministry-funded agency expenditures

Total ministry-funded expenses for the transfer payment recipient to administer and/or deliver this service in the reporting year (cumulative).