Youth with disabilities transitioning into Community Living BC (CLBC) services at 19 will now have the Representative for Children and Youth Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond to advocate for their needs until they turn 24.

Previously kids who received disability services and support from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) were expected to make a seamless transition to CLBC's adult supports at 19, with little recourse if things went wrong.

We were involved in commenting publicly on a number of cases where someone would turn 19 and their residential support -- where they were living and supported -- would suddenly fall apart," Turpel-LaFond told The Tyee.

"They were not allowed to live there anymore, the adult CLBC services would not approve a resource as intensive as they had prior (to turning 19)."

Now transitioning youth who have received MCFD services over the last 15 months or were eligible to receive these services prior to turning 19, can turn to the representative's office for help if CLBC isn't meeting their needs. But Turpel-Lafond says her office needs to keep the mandate open for the rare cases of youth, usually rural or aboriginal, whose never received services or support for their disabilities.

"It does happen in my travels around the province that I meet 19 year olds who never received special needs support or never got assessed," she said. Although her advocacy in this area has just begun, it's one of the main issues she plans to explore further.

“I'm really trying to understand why it is so many aboriginal youth have been left out of the (CLBC) service stream. Or they haven't received proper diagnosis or support during school years and as a result they're 19 but they've never been served. That is an area I'm quite concerned about just because it is a gap."

In a press release issued by the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation today, government says changes to the Representative for Children and Youth Act made in March paved the way for the expanded mandate.

"Those amendments, paired with the representative's broadened mandate, mean the B.C. government has fulfilled all seven recommendations made by the Select Standing Committee for Children and Youth in its review of the act," reads the statement.

The representative's office has received additional resources in the form of six new advocacy staff to assist with the expanded mandate. Turpel-Lafond isn't sure when or if she will do systemic reports on CLBC services for young adults, but says she will be reporting regularly on these issues to government's Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth.

The expansion into mandating for certain youth until age 24 also opens the door for more commentary and possibly even support for kids aging out of foster care at 19.

"They may not have developmental disabilities, but they may have some very serious trauma and mental health challenges," Turpel-Lafond said, adding such youth often don't complete high school.

"Their social and emotional functioning to live independently is just not there. We'll get a good opportunity to look at that."

Unlike advocating for children, the representative she will take into account that young adults, and especially people with disabilities, have the right to make their own decisions.

"I'm very mindful of their human rights," she said.

Katie Hyslop reports on education and youth issues for The Tyee Solutions Society. Follow her on Twitter.