Human Resources committee  Do you want to speak on that?

Human Resources committee  I will speak on that. I worked at the Children's Aid Society for about a year. I think Lisa does right now. When you are in foster care, there are supports within the child welfare system. At the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa there is a program known as CAST. It is Children's Aid Society Teams, and youth can come together to support one another within the foster families on the struggles they are going through with group homes, etc.

Human Resources committee  No. I go back once in a while to see my foster family. I have more contact with my foster sister because she is the same age as me, so we've kind of grown up together and we're almost like friends. So sometimes I see them, but as I mentioned, it's a different scenario when I go there.

Human Resources committee  I think I understood that question. I was in a foster home for eight years, so I was drawing that distinction between adoption and foster care. I didn't have that permanent family. If I had had an adoptive family, maybe things would have been different and I would have someone I could go and talk to for certain things, and I'd feel like I belonged somewhere and that I meant something to someone.

Human Resources committee  Hi. My name is Alisha. Currently, I go to Carleton University. I'm in my third year, studying human rights. I came into care at the age of 10, with my six other siblings. I'm the oldest. Now there are nine of us, actually, but that's a different story. Basically, I moved into a foster home and I lived with them for eight years, until I was 18.