Alberta's Transition to Adulthood Program: What Youth Aging Out of Foster Care Need to Know

Across Canada, the moment a young person turns 18 in government care can feel less like a birthday and more like a cliff edge. In Alberta, as of late 2024 and into 2025, approximately 2,100 young adults were enrolled in the province's Transition to Adulthood (TAP) program — the provincial safety net designed to prevent youth who age out of foster care from falling into homelessness, poverty, and disconnection. For foster parents, caseworkers, and the young people themselves, understanding what TAP offers and where it falls short is essential planning information.

What the Transition to Adulthood Program Is

The Transition to Adulthood Program is Alberta's extended care and support framework for youth who were in government care when they turned 18. Rather than abruptly ending services at the age of majority, TAP allows eligible youth to continue receiving financial support, housing assistance, and caseworker connections until they reach age 24.

The program is not automatic. Youth must actively engage with their caseworker before they turn 18 to develop a Transition Plan that outlines goals, timelines, and the supports they will access. The quality of that planning — and the quality of the caseworker relationship — varies significantly across Alberta's regions.

Who Is Eligible for TAP

To access the Transition to Adulthood Program, a youth must:

• Have been in government care (foster care, kinship care, or a group care setting) prior to turning 18
• Be willing to work with Children's Services on a transition plan
• Be engaged in some form of education, employment, or life skills development (requirements are flexible and caseworker-dependent)

Youth who age out without ever developing a transition plan, or who disengage from the system before 18, may find it harder to re-access support — though Alberta does have pathways for re-engagement.

What Support TAP Provides

The Transition to Adulthood Program offers a package of supports that can include:

Financial assistance: Youth in TAP receive monthly financial support to cover living costs. The amount depends on the youth's individual plan and circumstances.

Housing support: Assistance with finding and maintaining stable housing, including rental deposits and first-month costs. Housing instability is one of the most acute risks for youth aging out of care — Alberta's urban housing markets in Calgary and Edmonton make this particularly pressing.

Education support: Funding or assistance for post-secondary education, trades training, or upgrading. Youth pursuing education may access bursaries and grants available specifically to former youth in care, including through the Youth Aging Out of Care Education Fund.

Life skills development: Coaching on budgeting, cooking, navigating healthcare, and other practical adult skills that youth in care may not have had the opportunity to develop through a stable family environment.

Continued caseworker connection: Youth in TAP retain a connection to a worker who can help them navigate crises, access services, and maintain the transition plan.

Mental health and counselling access: Continued access to therapeutic services, particularly important for youth who have experienced significant trauma during their time in care.

What TAP Cannot Always Deliver

The Transition to Adulthood Program has documented gaps. Alberta's Child and Youth Advocate has identified inconsistencies in how TAP services are delivered across regions, particularly in rural and northern areas where access to services is more limited. Reports from the Advocate's office have pointed to cases where inadequate assessment and transition planning contributed to youth facing crisis situations after leaving care.

Youth who had complex, unstable care histories — multiple placement changes, disrupted relationships with workers, involvement with the justice system — are at higher risk of not being meaningfully connected to TAP planning before they age out. Some youth who would benefit most from extended support fall through the cracks precisely because their histories made consistent relationship-building difficult.

The Role of Foster Parents in Transition Planning

Foster parents who have cared for a young person approaching 18 are often uniquely positioned to support their transition. In many cases, the foster family represents one of the most stable, consistent relationships in that young person's life.

Alberta's policy encourages foster parents to be involved in transition planning where appropriate. Some foster parents continue to provide informal support to young adults who have aged out — maintaining a connection, offering a place for holidays, providing references for housing or employment. None of this is required, but it is often enormously impactful.

If you are currently fostering a teenager who is approaching 18, the most important thing you can do is ensure their caseworker is actively developing a transition plan — not waiting until the month before the birthday. Transition planning is most effective when it starts at 16 or 17, not at 17 and a half.

The Alberta Foster Care Guide includes a section on the caregiver's role in supporting youth through the transition process, as well as guidance on navigating the relationship between foster parent, young person, and the TAP caseworker.

What Youth Should Know About Their Rights

Young people in or leaving Alberta's care system have specific rights under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act, including the right to participate in planning that affects them and the right to access the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate (OCYA) if they feel those rights are not being respected.

The OCYA is an independent office that represents the rights and interests of children and youth involved with Alberta's child intervention system. Youth in TAP can contact the OCYA directly at 1-800-661-3446.

Youth leaving care also have access to services through community organizations across Alberta, including through AFKA (Alberta Foster and Kinship Association) and regional Indigenous-led organizations that provide culturally grounded support.

The Bigger Picture

The 2,100 young adults in Alberta's TAP program in 2024–2025 represent one of the most vulnerable populations in the province. Many of them entered care young, experienced multiple placements, and are transitioning to independence without the family safety net that most young adults rely on — without a parent to cosign a lease, loan them money for a car repair, or give them a place to land when things go wrong.

Some of these young adults are thriving. Many others are navigating adulthood under significant pressure. The TAP program is a meaningful step — but knowing how to access it, how to advocate within it, and how to supplement it with community connections makes a real difference in outcomes.

For anyone who has fostered a teenager in Alberta, that knowledge is worth having.

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