Dr. Varda Mann-Feder, B.A. Psychology, M.A. School Psychology, D.Ed. Educational Psychology and Counselling
Dr. Varda Mann-Feder is Professor of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia University. She is known nationally and internationally for her advocacy on behalf of youth transitioning out of placement. Varda worked for thirty years as a Psychologist in the Anglophone Child Welfare System in Montreal as a trainer and consultant in the development of the first preparatory programs for youth aging out of care in Quebec. Since joining Concordia in 1992, Varda has engaged in an extensive program of research and publication on care leaving. Varda represents Canada at INTRAC, the International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care and was a founding board member of both the Child and Youth Care Accreditation Board of Canada and the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood.
Dr. Melanie Doucet, BAA Criminal Justice, MIDST, PhD Social Work
Dr. Melanie Doucet has been working to improve the lives of youth in care for over 20 years. She is a former youth in care, holds a PhD in Social Work, is an Adjunct Professor at the McGill University School of Social Work and a member of the Canadian Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (CANTRAC). She continues to work as part of the provincial and national youth in care advocacy community on child protection policy reform initiatives and is currently leading the Equitable Transitions to Adulthood for Youth in Care project alongside the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates, with the support of the Child Welfare League of Canada (CWLC).
Laurence Magnan-Tremblay, BAA, MA Criminology, PhD(c) Psychoeducation
Laurence Magnan-Tremblay is a PhD student in Psychoeducation at the University of Sherbrooke. Her dissertation mobilizes a contextual approach to better understand how care leavers cope with the challenges they face during their transition into adulthood. She is an active member of the student committee of the Institut universitaire Jeunes en difficulté (IUJD – CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-Île-de-Montréal) and the representative of the Canadian student members of the International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (INTRAC).