The Ontario Association of Young Parent Agencies (OAYPA) is proud to share Serving Young Parenting Communities: An Anti-Oppressive Toolkit for Providers Working with Pregnant and Parenting Young People. Developed in partnership with OAYPA, Dr. Sherri Dutton, and Janice Appiah / Promise U Now, this resource was shaped by the knowledge, experiences, and expertise of young parents in Ontario, along with feedback from providers across the province.
The toolkit was created to support providers in strengthening anti-oppressive, relational, respectful, and strengths-based practice with young parents and their children. It explores how stigma, discrimination, and systemic barriers affect young parents’ experiences with services and offers practical guidance to help providers build more inclusive, responsive, and equitable supports.
Developed using an integrated knowledge translation approach, the toolkit draws on Dr. Dutton’s primary research, current literature, provider expertise, and young parents’ lived and living expertise. The development process included focus groups with young parents in May and October 2025, as well as review from providers representing a range of sectors and regions across Ontario.
This resource is intended for frontline providers working with young pregnant and parenting people across sectors, including social services, education, public health, primary care, child welfare, and community-based programs. It is designed to help strengthen everyday service delivery and support more respectful, culturally relevant, and community-informed practice.
We invite providers and partners across Ontario to explore and share the toolkit, and to use it to help build services that are more relational, accountable, and responsive to young parenting communities.