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Interview with Sandy Cooke, District Supervisor, Vancouver Adolescent Street Unit, Ministry of Social Services

Who works with the Adolescent Street Unit and what services do they offer?

The Adolescent Street Unit is unique in the sense that it is the only integrated office in the province. We have two Ministry of Social Services teams and two Mental Health Workers from Greater Vancouver Mental Health housed with us. We also have a drug and alcohol team for juveniles contracted through the Boys'and Girls' Club of Greater Vancouver. The Ministry of Attorney General has also assigned a probation officer to our office.

We have a free medical clinic five nights a week. Upstairs there is a study centre run by the Vancouver School Board that is open five days a week, regular school hours. Then we have another team that is not housed with us called our Resource Team.

"I find the majority of the kids coming to the streets are looking for a place of safety and acceptance as well as seeking control."

The three Ministry teams work as a unit and they hold the contracts for our services to street youth. Our group home network and our residential network are contracted through them. About 80% of all contracts for street youth in the city of Vancouver would be done through our Resource Team. That's a thumbnail sketch of services with the Adolescent Street Unit.

As to how we read our mandate, we are under the Child and Family Services Act as far as operations. We follow the same policy and procedure manuals as any other district office in the province. That means our mandate as a Street Unit is to work with anyone under the age of 19, and that includes sexually exploited youth, punkers, panhandlers, squatters, those involved in drug trafficking, etc. - It's a broader mandate from a few years back.

Do you deal at all with kids in gangs?

No, we don't. We haven't come across that.

What are some of the reasons youths end up on the street?

I find the majority of the kids coming to the streets are looking for a place of safety and acceptance as well as seeking control. Generally, most kids who are traumatized are fighting for some kind of control either consciously or unconsciously. They come together and they call themselves street families and that sort of thing, but those groupings are never long-lasting.

If an adolescent turns to prostitution, how can a street worker help that youth?

First, they aren't child prostitutes, they're sexually exploited children. That's part of that mythology. They aren't out there willingly selling their bodies. It's sexual abuse.

I don't believe you can force treatment or force care on anybody. You know, you've heard the old adage, someone has to bottom out before they'll take help. I think with children, caring professionals have to be more creative in finding ways to up the bottom to get their attention and to encourage their physical and emotional safety.

Most services across Canada, not just for youth, don't fit the needs of the population they're servicing, it's the other way around, so that really has to be looked at. You get someone who has been traumatized; their developmental processes are usually stagnated or blocked in certain areas so you really want to put them in a position where they can identify what their own needs are. Some of these kids don't feel they have any control over their lives, like they're just floating down the river of life with no pilot.

When you talk to these kids, what kind of help can you offer them through the bureaucracy?

With any intervention the bottom line is honesty. Wetry to demystify the fact that we're a government ministry. Kids who have had bad experiences in this or other provinces with the "helping" ministries are not that trusting, so we try to clarify who and what we are. It depends how kids come in to us. If they're brought in by police they're quite resistant. If they're brought in by streetworkers there's a bit better chance. Our best process is if a kid is brought in by another kid since there's trust there already. We don't go anywhere with this population until we develop trust; it's a learning process - you being a youth and me being a social worker.

We don't go anywhere with this population until we develop trust; it's a learning process -- you being a youth and me being a social worker.

So you can't promise anything you can't deliver.

Exactly. Basically what I always say when I meet a new young person is "don't surprise me and I won't surprise you." We've got some very archaic words that we have to use in the system, so we work to demystify what those words mean. With some of the kids my workers will first say, 'there are no strings attached; before you make a decision I'll take you around and you can take a look at some of our resources before you make your mind up about what you want to do.' We have a smorgasbord of services so we can mix and match with what he or she is ready to handle. Our view is if they've been out there for a long time a light doesn't just come on over their head and they say "oh, I want off the street." It takes time - one step off the street, two back on, three off, one back. It takes time to make change and a lot of patience.

What can you offer them if they don't want to live on the street any more?

We can offer everything. If a youth came in today and wanted to be placed, we could place him or her, but then we explain to them what that means. We can do it by parental consent. But many don't want to hear from their parents. We can do it by apprehension, but first I would explain the reality of what that looks like. I would explain to him/her: In this or any other province there are conditions to the service we provide. We try to make them minimal but to be a ward of the state is a legal process, so here's what the legal process means. It means my worker will have to "touch you" and say you are apprehended under the powers of the superintendent. That means we could place you right now into a residential or physical resource. It also means we have to be in court within seven days, we have to notify your parents, etc. Or, we can get parental agreement which allows us to "shelter you" if you wanted to come into a facility. We try to empower them by telling them they have some say in this. But first we look at their age.

We have two front-end group homes, one called Watson House and the other Grace House. We also have a safe house. You don't have to be in care to go to the safe house.

I have heard many stories of adolescents experiencing abuse in foster homes. Does this situation still exist?

I would say a lot of the young people we have worked with in the care system, which could be a combination of foster care and residential care, have had unpleasant experiences. The abuse could simply be their lack of control sometimes. The care system has to be reviewed. It's quite outdated and not meeting needs. There have been so many studies in the province and change is slow.

What changes need to be made to improve prospects for adolescents who end up on the street?

We are at the far end of service. We are here all the time, but where is the prevention? I haven't met the perfect parent and I never will, but where do we include the family? What are our safety nets now for families and youth anywhere in this province? Finally, how do we value our youth? Perhaps the answers to these questions would help us improve the situation for youth.