Child & Youth Well-Being
Child & Youth Well-Being
Guided by the North Star: Reimagining Well-Being for Children and Youth in B.C.
A Vision for Child and youth well-being
Every child and youth in B.C. deserves more than just safety or survival; they deserve to thrive and grow up feeling healthy, valued, connected, and empowered to become their best selves.
Well-being isn’t just about the absence of harm. It’s about ensuring children and youth have what they need to flourish: emotional safety, identity affirmation, cultural connection, and strong, caring relationships. A true child and youth well-being system is not grounded in child protection or crisis response—it is rooted in prevention, equity, and care. As outlined in Don’t Look Away, RCY’s North Star is a system designed to support young people before they are at risk, and to walk alongside them as they grow.
Every child who experiences life should grow up to know love, and what it means. Every child who experiences life should grow up to know what love means for each of us: security, safety, connection, and oneness.
– Chief Robert Joseph, Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk People – Namwayut
What We're Hearing
Young people across B.C. are telling us what well-being really means:
- It’s not more referrals. It’s feeling understood.
- It’s not systems that step in after the crisis. It’s systems that prevent harm in the first place.
We’ve heard from Indigenous youth, 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, youth in care, and those facing poverty, racism, or the toxic drug crisis. They’re asking for consistent, caring adults, safe spaces to be themselves, and systems that recognize their identities, not ones that reduce them to problems to manage.
They’re also asking for something that is often missing: coordination. Youth are tired of being passed from service to service, and telling their story over and over again. They see how disconnected systems create confusion, gaps, and harm, and they are calling for adults and services to work together.
Young people are also demanding to be included. They want a seat at the table in decisions that impact their lives. Not as afterthoughts or mere consultation checkboxes—genuine co-creation of policies, programs, and change.
This call isn’t just coming from young people. We’re also hearing it from the adults who care for them—parents, caregivers, teachers, doctors, Elders, and frontline staff—who are doing their best in a fractured system. They’re telling us they need clear pathways, shared information, and stronger collaboration to support the young people in their lives.
We ask child protection to step into spaces where society has essentially failed to provide prevention and support services and then we say, oh, you’re meant to fix it. But the tools available to fix it in the child intervention system are limited by law… they don’t have is a legal mandate to solve the issues that cause children to eventually be in place [of harm] to begin with… We look to the wrong system to solve the problem
–Member of the RCY Circle of Advisors
What We're Doing
At RCY, we are working to transform the systems that serve children and youth. Well-being cannot happen in silos, and it cannot be measured only by how we respond to crisis.
We are calling for the development of a provincial Child and Youth Well-Being Strategy and Action Plan that brings together government ministries, Indigenous leadership, service providers, and communities. This strategy must reflect a whole-of-government commitment and be grounded in children’s rights, equity, and care. It must also recognize the unique needs of Indigenous children and families and be shaped through meaningful engagement with youth, families, and communities.
But commitment alone is not enough. We need accountability.
That is why we are also calling for a child well-being accountability and data plan that helps track what is working, what is not, and where change is needed. This includes:
- Shared outcomes and indicators across systems
- Transparent, ethical data collection that includes disaggregated and Indigenous-led data
- Feedback loops to inform frontline practice, policy, and investment
- Regular public reporting to show whether well-being is improving for all children
Well-being cannot be measured by referrals or service counts. It must be evaluated based on how children feel, whether they belong, whether their identities are affirmed, and whether they are thriving in their homes, schools, and communities.
The vision set out in Don’t Look Away points to a better future. A child and youth well-being system must be built on care, connection, and clear outcomes. That is how we move from intention to impact.
By the Numbers
Across B.C., too many kids and teens are struggling—not because of who they are, but because of how systems are set up.
In some areas, up to
of kindergarten children show signs they need extra support. This is often linked to poverty, racism, and lack of access to culturally safe care.
Nearly
teens in Grades 7–12 are struggling with serious anxiety or depression. Fewer than 2 out of 3 say they feel like they belong at school—a big drop from 10 years ago.
Featured Reports
Too Many Left Behind, 2025
This Issues Spotlight report renews calls for immediate and urgent action including immediate funding increases, strengthening mental health services, enhancing equitable access to education, a cross-government data management system and equitable access to services and supports for children and youth with disabilities and their families.
The time for action is now, and this spotlight underscores the urgency of addressing these persistent gaps to ensure all children and youth with disabilities and their families receive the support they need to thrive.
Don't Look Away, 2024
The Representative for Children and Youth (RCY) is calling for a collective commitment to “stop tinkering at the edges of an outdated system that does not work for too many children and families” and embark instead on both specific and larger transformative changes that will ensure that our young people are safe, connected and thriving.
Skye's Legacy, 2021
The life and death of Skye, a bright, young First Nations girl who “bubbled with energy” as a child, illustrates just how critical it is for children in government care to feel connected to family, culture and community, says an investigative report released by British Columbia’s Representative for Children and Youth.
Interested in learning more about this issue?
Join our mailing list to stay up to date with new reports releases and news from the RCY.
