Getting Started

Have you ever asked someone “what do you need?” and they don’t have an answer? Or maybe they asked you for the kind of support you don’t have the capacity to offer. This session focused on how we can make tangible offers of support based on our strengths in balance with setting and maintaining boundaries so we don’t overextend ourselves.

We are pleased to be announcing Never Too Late (NTL)'s 3-year Strategic Plan and Accountability Framework. Building on the foundation of our Vision, Mission, and Values, this 3-year Strategic Plan outlines 5 success factors: Meaningful Connection, Collaborative Partnerships, Operational and Financial Stewardship, Strengthening Our People, and Learning Together

This Lived Expert panel helped Humans and permanency caregivers understand that the hardest moments are often the most important ones to stay through. People tend to pull away when things get hard because of a lack of knowledge of what to do as well as strong feelings about what is going on. Here we explore those feelings and practical tips to cope and manage “when I pushed you away.”

On May 12, CBC's Ontario Today did a segment on CAS and the need for change. Irwin Elman, former Ontario Advocate for Children and Youth, sat in as a guest with show host Amanda Pfeffer to take calls and hear from social workers, caregivers, and those with living experience. 

Our Service Provider Education session, which took place on April 23, 2026, featured a panel discussion with three members of the Never Too Late (NTL) community: Charlene April, Coordinator for Lived Experts, Nadia George, Curriculum Consultant and Lived Expert Specialist, and Kimberley Miller, Lived Expert Specialists and moderator.  The theme was navigating the two worlds of being a professional helper and being a Living Expert of the child welfare system and/or permanency system.  All three shared insights about what it is like to be in workplaces or in fields that they have been personally impacted by, and the unique challenges and opportunities inherent in being a professional with living experience.  

One woman's story of growing up in care, then aging out while she was still in high school. A This is Nova Scotia (CBC) podcast episode.

What does love look like when no one ever showed you? That powerful question sat at the heart of a recent webinar hosted by Fostering Media Connections' Youth Voices Rising program.

A panel of individuals with living experience in foster care, juvenile justice, and homelessness came together to explore how early trauma shapes our beliefs about love, safety, and relationships.

Our Service Provider Education session, which took place on February 26, 2026, featured three members of the Never Too Late (NTL) community: Charlene April, coordinator for the Lived Expert community; Mary Scott, a Lived Expert Specialist; and Wendy Hayes, Lead for Data, Communications and Partnerships. Wendy moderated the discussion which focused on what the panelists found helpful with service providers they encountered during their interactions with the child welfare system; and what could have been different. Panelists were also asked to reflect on discussions their workers had (or did not have) about permanency.   

Harm Reduction is known as an evidence-based, public health approach to working with people with addictions. Concepts from Harm Reduction have a broader application in figuring out how to show up in supportive ways in relationships, especially when significant and early trauma are present, as it is for Living Experts of child welfare.

We are overjoyed to announce that Never Too Late (NTL) has been chosen as a recipient of the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Seed Grant. This funding will be a critical part of fulfilling our promise by developing the Living Expert Community at Never Too Late (NTL)

How do we support those living with FASD to thrive and flourish? Our Living Expert panelists came together to discuss how FASD has impacted their lives and which support strategies have been the most helpful for them. Participants heard about addressing the stigma of FASD diagnosis, how to support success, navigating sibling relationships and real stories of challenges and celebrations from Living Experts and their family members. The panel was moderated by Sylvia Gibbons. 

One of our core values at Never Too Late (NTL) is to center the voices of Living Experience in everything we do. We connected with Kemesha to talk about her work creating educational materials for the Service Provider Pilot Training, the importance of permanency and what gives her hope for the future.

People who have been impacted by trauma, prenatal exposure to substances, or other challenges resulting in a traumatic brain injury understand and respond to the world around them in unique ways.

Barb Clark’s session on took a coaching approach, designed to provide practical strategies, emotional support, and real-life tools you can use right away. Participants were encouraged to bring their questions and current challenges, creating a collaborative space to troubleshoot together and learn brain-based approaches that reduce stress in relationships.

No one is excited about finding out that they, or someone they love is impacted by a preventable, life-long brain injury. But knowledge is power, knowledge brings understanding. In this presentation, we discussed the many reasons how and why knowing and accepting a diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can be life changing in a positive way.

Winter days are upon us. These times can be quite triggering for us for a multitude of reasons. You are worthy, you are enough and you are valuable. Here are some tips to get through the winter days.

The Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) program through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption offers a unique and highly successful approach to finding permanency connections for children and young people in and from the child welfare system. In a November session for Service Providers, three WWK recruiters, Nikki Holland-Green, Kerry Milligan, and Cynthia White shared their experiences as child focused recruiters, offering many examples and providing guidance on how to engage older youth for considering the possibility of adoption.

As part of the 2023 - 2024 Annual Report Living Expert, Wendy Hayes, reflected on the work of Never Too Late (NTL) as well as their own personal connection made to a Human during a difficult time in their life.

Image: Top-down view of Lego flowers made by Wendy, their Human, and their sibling.

Parenting young adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) can be incredibly complex—especially for caregivers who adopted their children as teens or young adults. In this personal and practical session, Barb Clark shared her journey as a parent of children with FASD and her own recent diagnosis as an adult. With honesty and insight, Barb offered guidance on how to reconnect with young people who may seem distant, shut down, or stuck.

A common question we receive at Never Too Late (NTL) is “What do you mean by unconditional commitment?”

Lived Expert Coordinator, Charlene April explores what unconditional commitment means and looks like from a Living Expert perspective.

Somatic therapist and author, Nadia George, explored what somatic healing truly is—and what it isn’t. Drawing from her professional expertise and lived experience, Nadia demystified the science behind somatic practices, shared real-life examples of what works (and what doesn’t) in the heat of the moment, and guided participants through practical tools they can start using right away.

C has been with Never Too Late (NTL) for almost 6 years! She has been actively involved in community groups and has volunteered her time doing peer-support. At the beginning of 2020, with an imminent pandemic that would see the world change drastically, C met and welcomed a Lived Expert into her home and her life.

Fight, flight, freeze or fawn? The nervous system is often thought of as the body’s control system. It’s responsible for processing information received about the world, triggering responses and regulating bodily functions. Understanding how it functions and the impacts that trauma has on the nervous system can help us select the appropriate tools and strategies for dysregulated moments. Lived Expert facilitator, Wendy, provided an overview of the nervous system in simple terms (and some science-y ones) as well as shared some of their personal tools for managing dysregulation for self and as a Kin Caregiver/Human.

Lived Experts may interact with Service Providers in various roles at organizations providing various services. A comprehensive understanding of the living experience of child welfare systems and permanency journeys can help professionals do their best work. In 2024, we began to build on our work with Service Providers by creating a training and peer-support opportunities. L was part of a group of nine service providers from six different organizations that participated in the Service Provider Training Pilot.

Launching gave us time to reflect on the legacies we are continuing and look to the future with hope of what we can create together.

How can Humans build trust, support their Lived Experts to feel safe, and strengthen their relationships? This panel featured Lived Experts and was moderated by Lived Expert Coordinator Charlene April, to hear directly from Living Experts on what kinds of relationship building approaches would be helpful on permanency journeys.

Permanency journeys are not linear, and they come with unique challenges and joys. Learning happens at different times and in different ways. Messages we’ve heard many times before may take on new meanings as life changes around us. Join this panel of Humans and Human-to-be as they share about the importance of continually engaging with education opportunities that offer insight into trauma, permanency relationships, mental health and other topics that support Humans in showing up in their connections to Lived Experts.

The Lived Expert Library is a tribute to tenacity, yes—but more importantly, it’s a tribute to talent, to vision, and to the many layers of lived experts that are so often overlooked. It’s a reminder that we are more than what we've survived—we are what we’ve made from it.

In honour of Children and Youth in Care Day, please visit the Lived Expert Library and browse the submissions.