Component: provincial initiatives

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

Service objectives

The Education Liaison program supports the educational needs and improves the educational outcomes of children and youth receiving child welfare services, in care, in customary care, and in a Voluntary Youth Services Agreement (VYSA) by helping to identify, access, navigate and strengthen educational supports and community resources relevant to the educational needs of eligible children and youth.

Service description

The goal of the Education Liaison program is to be responsive to the diverse educational needs of children and youth receiving society services, in care, customary care, and a VYSA (“eligible children and youth”) and to provide supports to improve their educational outcomes. Education Liaisons coordinate educational supports and provide culturally responsive system navigation support for eligible children and youth. Education Liaisons help to resolve issues that impact the educational success of eligible children and youth, and strengthen relationships among societies, public school boards, First Nations school authorities, schools, and community partners in order to improve the educational outcomes of eligible children and youth.

People Served

Children and youth receiving society services and/or in care subject to the following legal status and/or legal agreement with a children’s aid society, including Indigenous societies

  • Temporary Care Agreement Temporary Care and Custody
  • Child or Youth in Interim Society Care
  • Ready, Set, Go Program (including youth with Stay Home for School Agreements)
  • Customary Care
  • Voluntary Youth Service Agreements Adoption Consent
  • Kinship Care
  • Kinship Service
  • Child or youth in extended society care

Program services

Education Liaisons will

  • Act as a navigator for eligible children and youth within the school system and help to resolve issues that impact student learning (e.g., transitions between schools, suspensions, special education)
  • Work with the society and school board to address student transportation needs
  • Facilitate access for eligible children and youth to existing educational supports and resources in the school system or the community by providing information and referrals that address individual needs and support/reinforce strengths. Some of the resources and supports an Education Liaison may provide referrals to may include: specialized educational services tutoring supports; mentoring resources and training and/or skill development opportunities
  • Facilitate the timely exchange of information between schools and societies (including utilizing and providing input as part of the monitoring and evaluation of local Joint Protocols for Student Achievement (JPSAs), where they exist)
  • Leverage existing resources in the child welfare and education systems through referrals and collaboration (e.g., Ontario Education Championship Teams for Children and Youth in Extended Care (“Championship Teams”), Indigenous Education Leads and Student Success Leads)
  • Strengthen relationships among schools, school boards/authorities, societies and community partners
  • Foster communication and linkages with community organizations to improve access and mitigate barriers to educational services and supports for eligible children and youth
  • Build system capacity among society and educational staff on how to better meet the educational needs of eligible children and youth

Education Liaisons will meet with eligible children and youth and supporting adults (e.g., caregivers, teachers, counsellors, case workers), which may occur in educational or community-based settings.

Services of the Education Liaison will be

  • Reflective of, and responsive to, the needs of eligible children and youth
  • Accountable to the eligible children and youth served and their communities
  • Responsive to the social, linguistic and cultural diversity of eligible children and youth
  • Culturally responsive to the needs of a diverse population of youth (e.g., First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and racialized children and youth)
  • Be provided in French, in French-language designated areas, and include liaising with French-language school boards and community resources for eligible Francophone children and youth and those attending a French-language school
  • Staffed by individuals with the appropriate skills and abilities necessary to respond effectively to the educational needs of eligible children and youth. This includes knowledge of Ontario’s education system and connections within the education sector
  • Based on the assessed needs and preferences of the eligible children and youth who receive services, and available society, community and contracted ministry resources

Program/service features

The Program / Services contracted by the ministry and delivered by the Transfer Payment Recipient will reflect the following features:

Program goals

  • Maintain documentation, and reporting systems/protocols
  • Recruit and orient the Education Liaison position as needed
  • Provide supplemental training for the Education Liaison, as needed

Maintain relationships with key community contacts including local schools and community organizations

  • Identify and initiate contact with schools, community organizations and institutions providing educational supports and serving eligible children and youth
  • Increase access to services and resources for children and youth
  • Identify key service referral contacts and initiate/establish communication and referral protocols with schools and/or boards
  • Identify key service referral contacts and initiate/establish communication and referral protocols with community organizations
  • Provide eligible children and youth with services and resources, as appropriate
  • Provide eligible children and youth with referrals to services and resources, as appropriate
  • Provide capacity building services to other society staff to increase their knowledge of the education system and strategies for promoting academic success for, and providing educational supports, to eligible children and youth
  • Provide capacity building services to caregivers to increase their knowledge of strategies for promoting academic success and of the education system, including available educational supports

Ministry expectations

The transfer payment recipient is responsible for the following activities

  • Overall Education Liaison Program administration and delivery, including agreed upon program deliverables
  • Providing supervision and training of the Education Liaison
  • Reporting serious incidents involving an Education Liaison and eligible children and youth to the ministry’s regional office
  • Developing appropriate policies and procedures for protecting the privacy of personal information collected from eligible children and youth
  • The policies and procedures that are developed by the Service Provider shall comply with the confidentiality provisions relating to children who are the subject of a child welfare proceeding under the Child, Youth, and Family Services Act, 2017 and the Youth Criminal Justice Act, including Part 6, when the information and records relate to young persons as defined by the Youth Criminal Justice Act

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 and interim basis, the Transfer Payment Recipient will submit final financial and service data reports through Transfer Payment Ontario (TPON) in accordance with TPON directives and timelines. The Transfer Payment Recipients should refer to its transfer payment agreement for reporting requirements.
  • As part of their final report to the ministry, the Transfer Payment Recipient will provide a narrative report, using the template provided by the Child Welfare Secretariat. The narrative report will include the following:

Program description

  • Briefly describe the program as it relates to your community. This section can include community characteristics; profile of eligible children and youth served (e.g., main sub-populations by ethno-cultural group, disability, age); engagement with First Nations, Inuit, Metis and urban Indigenous communities and organizations; changes in access to educational services and supports for eligible children and youth; results from inter-agency and school collaborations
  • Describe how the Education Liaison program developed and fostered partnerships between societies, schools, and school boards and/or First Nations educational authorities, and community organizations offering educational and well-being services and supports
  • Describe capacity building services provided to society staff and/or caregivers to increase their knowledge of the education system and strategies for promoting academic success and providing educational supports

Successes

  • Describe what made the program work well in your community, including linkages or partnerships formed with schools, service providers, community organizations and other community resources, and provide examples. Examples could include quotes and/or anecdotes (with identifying information removed)
  • Please provide two or more examples (with identifying information removed) of how the Education Liaison helped a student to meet their educational goals and/or improve their educational outcomes (e.g., graduation, credit attainment, attendance, engagement over the past year).

Challenges

  • Describe the challenges encountered in planning and delivering the program and the strategies employed, or planned, to overcome them.

Summary

Please describe your organization's reflections/learning from planning and delivering the program and any other information that might be helpful for the ministry to know.

The following service data will be included in both the interim and final reports in TPON. Please refer to your transfer payment agreement for reporting due dates.

Service Data NameDefinition
# of participants with one or more disabilitiesNumber of unique participants who identify as a person with one or more disabilities (includes physical, mental, and learning disabilities, hearing or vision disabilities, substance use dependencies, environmental sensitivities, as well as other conditions that limit activities of daily living).
# of Education Liaison service/support: Needs AssessmentNumber of participants who received services/support from an Education Liaison by service/support type: Needs assessment
# of Education Liaison service/support: Post-secondary education planningNumber of participants who received services/support from an Education Liaison by service/support type: Post secondary education planning
# of Education Liaison service/support: Navigation SupportNumber of participants who received services/support from an Education Liaison by service/support type: Navigation support
# of Education Liaison service/support: AdvocacyNumber of participants who received services/support from an Education Liaison by service/support type: Advocacy
# of Elementary school (primary)Number of unique participants in grades 1 – 5 at the time of reporting. Each participant is counted only once, even if they have changed grades during the reporting period.
# of First Nations school authorityNumber of First Nations school authorities served by the Education Liaison program in the children’s aid society catchment area.
# of High school (secondary)Number of unique participants in grades 9 – 12 at the time of reporting. Each participant is counted only once, even if they have changed grades during the reporting period.
# of Post-secondary school amp; trainingNumber of unique participants attending post-secondary school of any type. Each participant is counted only once, even if they have transitioned from high school to post-secondary school during the reporting period. Postsecondary education includes apprenticeship or trades programs, college, university or other non-university programs that if completed would provide a certificate or diploma.
# of participantsNumber of eligible children or youth participating (“participant”) in the program who had at least one significant interaction (e.g. education-related conversation) with an Education Liaison during the reporting period. This includes new and returning participants. Each child or youth is counted only once, regardless of the number of contacts with the child or youth. This number includes all children and youth served during the reporting period including children and youth whose contact was initiated in a previous reporting period.
# of Middle school (junior high)Number of unique participants in grades 6-8 at the time of reporting. Each participant is counted only once, even if they have changed grades during the reporting period.
# of New participantsNumber of new unique children and youth served by the Education Liaison program. This number reflects children and youth who have not been served by the Education Liaison program at any time in the past. Each child or youth is counted only once, regardless of the number of contacts with the child or youth.
# of Participants referred by the Education Liaison to external services/resourcesThe number of children and youth who received a referral during the reporting period. Referral means that the Education Liaison provides specific service/program and contact information to a child or youth to address the child or youth’s particular identified needs or interests. Includes referrals to other services with the Education Liaison’s own organization. Does not include providing general information on services/programs to children and youth. Each child and youth referred by the Education Liaison is counted only once in the reporting period, regardless of how many services or opportunities they are referred to. Examples of referrals include therapy, tutoring, career mentoring, mentorship, Student Success Lead, Indigenous Education Lead.
# of PreschoolNumber of unique participants in grades JK-SK at the time of reporting. Each participant is counted only once, even if they have changed grades during the reporting period.
# of Returning participantsNumber of returning children or youth who had at least one significant interaction with an Education Liaison during the reporting period. Returning refers to participants who were previously served by the Education Liaison program in any past fiscal year either in consecutive years or non-consecutively.
Number of participant referrals to transportation and stability supportsThe number of children and youth who received a referral to the transportation and stability supports program during the reporting period.
# of School boardsNumber of school boards served by the Education Liaison program in the children’s aid society catchment area
# of SchoolsNumber of schools served by the Education Liaison program in the children’s aid society catchment area.
Education Liaison: Ministry-funded agency expendituresTotal ministry-funded expenses for the transfer payment recipient to administer and/or deliver this service in the reporting year (cumulative).