AUNT LEAH'S INDEPENDENT LIFESKILLS SOCIETY

Our Mission

Aunt Leah's Place helps prevent children in foster care from becoming homeless, and mothers in need from losing custody of their children. To support them on their journey to self-sufficiency, we provide supported housing, job training and coaching on essential life skills. Lifeskills Training guides the tasks we set out to do each day: preparing 17 and 18 year old children for their 19th birthday - a day that marks a radical and often abrupt transition into adulthood. For our young mothers it encompasses both this transition and the establishment of a small, fragile family unit. Lifeskills are fundamental to establishing community. Without them, we become a society in chaos. This raises the question: “What happens to a youngster without family supports, who does not acquire these lifeskills?” The answer is profound. These courageous, sensitive, kind youngsters develop survival skills to replace what they were never taught. At best they will burden an already hampered welfare and health-care system, repeating the cycle of poverty for themselves and their children. At worst, they will support the “underground economy” – breaking into houses, robbing retail stores, becoming participants in the sex and drug trade and eventually entering our penal system.

About AUNT LEAH'S PLACE

Try to imagine a young child growing up without a nurturing family. Imagine this same child as a teenager before his/her nineteenth birthday – how frightening the future must be for them. Realize that all government supports have been removed – the challenge of becoming a tenant, parent, neighbour and community member under these circumstances is daunting at the very least. Teaching lifeskills is the tenacious belief in assisting one young life at a time. It’s what every mom, dad, grandparent, aunt and uncle passes on to the children in their care. For children who don’t have that kind of family structure to count on, Aunt Leah’s is needed to fill the kindness gap. Please have a look at our website to find out more about our programs and the youth and moms we work with. www.auntleahs.org