Advocate Issues Urgent Open Letter to Legislature on Youth Engagement Services Program
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
The New Brunswick Advocate, Kelly Lamrock, has issued an urgent open letter to Members of the Legislative Assembly raising serious concerns about the effectiveness and implementation of the province’s Youth Engagement Services (YES) program under the Department of Social Development.
The YES program is aimed at youth 16-18 years old who are not in the Minister’s care but who cannot live safely with their parents, or who have a child. YES is supposed to connect them with services and support to help them develop life skills and ensure their well-being. It is how older teenagers access job training, education supports, mental health supports, addiction counselling, and other programs that lower their risks of unemployment, homelessness, addiction, and justice system involvement later on.
When the Legislature adopted the Child and Youth Well Being Act in 2022, MLAs were told that improving these transition to adulthood services was a key goal of the new law. The Government of New Brunswick has stated that it is a priority to lower the number of young people who are not in education, training, or employment.
The Advocate warns that Social Development’s broken structure, needless barriers to the YES program, and questionable decision-making are preventing vulnerable youth from getting help in a timely way. In the letter, Lamrock shares three examples of decisions to deny young people access to the YES program, including:
A pregnant teen was made to wait for more than half a year in a homeless shelter because of a pointless program application and acceptance rules that have no basis in law,
A teenager asking for help while recovering in a hospital from a drug overdose, who was denied because he was homeless and without a home for the Department to assess,
A teenager was denied and told to move back to a residence where one adult was facing sexual assault charges.
Lamrock confirms that his office is getting repeated complaints involving young people in need denied YES services, and has reached a point where he must advise elected MLAs.
“As a legislative officer, my job is to tell elected members when the bureaucracy is falling short of what they have directed when it comes to how children are being treated. The way the Department of Social Development is administering the YES program does not match what they told MLAs they would be doing, it does not match the stated goals of government, and it does not match the standards of anyone with common sense and empathy.”
In the letter, the advocate warns that the program is not functioning as intended and is barely functioning at all.
“Today, I am telling you that the treatment of vulnerable teenagers by some regional offices of the Department of Social Development falls short of any acceptable standard. It has been doing so for a long time.”
The Advocate also expresses concern about the broader consequences for youth who do not successfully access services.
“It is alarming to contemplate the cases I don’t know about, the ones where the youth simply get turned away and quietly vanish into poverty.”
Based on his reviews, Lamrock reports ongoing issues including:
Multi-month delays in assessing YES applications while youth remain in crises
Unreachable officials when teens seek updates or support
Youth aging out of eligibility before decisions are made due to processing delays
Inconsistent or unclear decision-making criteria across regions
Pointless bureaucratic barriers that discourage young people from getting help,
Lack of meaningful communication during application processing
Homelessness not consistently treated as an urgent risk factor
Cases where applications are dismissed without adequate fact-checking or clear reasons
Demanding repeated applications from teens with no sound reason
“If we want more young adults in education, training, or work, and if we really care about having fewer people living on the street, we would expect Social Development to be actively trying to get more teenagers at risk into the YES program and get them mentors, training, and health supports. Instead, the Department is practically throwing obstacles in the way of children who already have every reason to distrust adults. I am hoping that elected members will make their expectations clear to the bureaucracy and demand better for young people who need help before they are adults and on their own.”
The Advocate is calling on the Legislature to take immediate action in three areas:
Independent review of the YES program, including eligibility criteria and assessment processes
Implementation of a results-based accountability framework to track applications, outcomes, and regional performance
Legislative committee hearings within 30 days, with follow-up review in 2027 to assess progress
“We can’t keep having a system with rules that look for reasons to turn away desperate kids instead of looking for ways to help.”
