2SLGBTQ+ Communities
The Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton provides services to children, youth and families in the Hamilton community. Governed by civil legislation and guided by our Catholic values, we are committed to protect the safety and well-being of all children and youth, to strengthen families of all types, and to nurture lifelong relationships that sustain wholeness and vitality for all persons regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Read our full statement in support of the 2SLGBTQ+ community: Click Here
Fostering Rainbow Youth (FRY)
FRY was developed as a pilot project in 2012 as the direct result of youth expressing a need for programming that directly provided space, support, and education for 2SLGBTQ+ youth in the foster care system. It continues to be a program where 2SLGBTQ+youth have a safe place to socialize and find peer and adult mentored support.
■FRY is a program run by 2SLGBTQ+identified CCASH staff members to provide a safer space for 2SLGBTQ+ youth in care to gain education, be provided with support, to be connected with community and given social space.
■Education, support, community and social spaces were the four areas identified at the start of FRY by youth as their own areas of need.
■FRY also provides the opportunity for 2SLGBTQ+ youth in care to connect with other youth who can understand the ways in which being a youth in care and 2SLGBTQ+ creates a multitude of unique experiences that can make regular 2SLGBTQ+ spaces difficult, uncomfortable or unsafe.
■FRY, or Fostering Rainbow Youth, was named by the youth in the group to reflect both their 2SLGBTQ+ identity and their identity as a youth in care/crown ward/former youth in care.