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.

We all have a “toolbox” of strategies that help us navigate difficult times. Wendy, a Lived Expert shares some of the tools in their toolbox for inspiration.

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.

Never Too Late (NTL) was thrilled to be contacted by CBC for an interview for a follow-up story talking about supports for Lived Experts. Wendy Hayes, who does our communications work and is a Living Expert themselves, spoke to CBC about the importance of having Humans.

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.

The words we use send value-based messages and inform the way we feel and think about the world. Lived Expert facilitator Wendy, who has worked in Communications for over 10 years, explored the subjectivity of language, identity-based language, and why Never Too Late (NTL) uses unique language such as the term "Human".

In April 2023, Never Too Late (NTL) officially launched as an independent organization and began building on years of foundational work done as a program at the Adoption Council of Ontario. Our inaugural Annual Report shares stories of community strength and tenacity and covers the work that we completed in our first fiscal year October 2023 - September 2024.

Downtown Legal Services in collaboration with the Adult Adoption Working Group is composing a four-part manual, “Unpacking the Family Backpack,” which outlines legal rights and privileges in Ontario that depend on family status.

Part 1 of Difficult Conversations explored foundational groundwork that will empower and equip our relationships with Lived Experts for difficult conversations. Attention was given to the role that boundaries play and finding the “how much” between “yes” and “no” answers.