Too often, decisions about children and youth are made without their involvement. But no one understands your experiences better than you! That's why we're inviting children and youth 9 to 18 years-old who are living in Halton Region to fill out the online survey and tell us how they are really doing. With your help, we can make better decisions and provide better services and programs.

We worked with Halton youth and our partners who work with children and youth to identify the things that are important in your life – things like how you are feeling, what you do in your free time, and how you feel about school and your community. The questions on the survey are about these types of things. The work Our Kids Network is doing on this important survey is supported by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) at the University of Waterloo, UNICEF Canada, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

We asked some organizations that have programs and services for youth in Halton exactly what they intend to do with the Halton Youth Impact Survey data.

The Halton Youth Impact Survey will give us important information that we will use to adapt our programming and/or develop new programs. YMCA of Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford

Youth Week programs and the Oakville Youth Action Committee are two examples of programs that could expand based on information from the survey. Glen Abbey Community Centre, Oakville

We will use the data to help us understand the needs and challenges of girls in our communities and make sure that our programs focus on those needs. Milton Community Resource Centre

It will help us create programs that provide a warm introduction to community activities, so newcomer youth do not enter community programs without information, support, or some experience. HMC Connections

The Halton Youth Impact Survey will provide us with information and data that will help guide the development of future plans and programs for supporting local youth. Halton Regional Police Service

Data will be compared to existing early years data to help better understand the relationship between early life experiences and the effects later in childhood and the teen years. Halton Region, Social & Community Services

Findings will be used by Public Health to plan research, programs and services that better meet the needs of youth in our community. Halton Region Public Health

The Halton Youth Impact Survey will help the library understand more about what volunteer activities are important to youth and how they want to access them. Oakville Public Library

We've used data to help improve the way preschool programs are delivered and will use the Halton Youth Impact Survey data in the same way for youth programs. City of Burlington, Recreation, Community and Culture

Click here to see more details of how these agencies will use the Halton Youth Impact Survey data.

You can enter for a chance to win a prize. Each age group will have its own prize draw.

After you've finished the Halton Youth Impact Survey, you can enter the draw on the last Thank you page. The draw will take place on June 17 and 18 and winners will be posted on Instagram and contacted by email.

AND if you're in high school and are looking for volunteer hours, after completing the survey, you can receive a letter from Our Kids Network recognizing two volunteer hours.

You are being invited to fill out an online survey and your participation is completely voluntary. The survey should only take you about 25 minutes to complete. You do not have to agree to participate in the survey. You can also change your mind and stop participating simply by not submitting a finished survey.

You will be asked questions about the activities that you participate in during your free time, how you feel about school and your teachers, and questions like, “How would you describe your sense of belonging to the community?” and “How satisfied are you with your life in general?” You will also be asked for some basic demographic information, like your age and where you live in the Halton Region (but not your specific address), and if you were born in Canada. Once you complete the survey and submit it, no one can remove or change your answers because we don't know which responses you submitted.

Although they aren't intended to do so, some of the questions in the survey might make you feel uncomfortable. For example, you will be asked if you have been bullied in the past couple of months and if you have engaged in any substance use recently (for example, smoked cigarettes or drank alcohol). You don't have to answer any questions you don't want to. If at any point you feel uncomfortable, need to take a break, or decide you don't want to do this anymore, that is okay.

If any question makes you feel uncomfortable and you want more information about it, there are resources available to help.

If you have other questions about the survey, please contact Elisabeth Wells, PhD, Research and Knowledge Mobilization Manager at elisabeth@ourkidsnetwork.ca.

We won't know who answered the questions in the survey. All of the answers you provide are entirely anonymous because you are never asked for your name or address at any point. The information is collected by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing and will be securely stored at the University of Waterloo for a minimum of 10 years on a password-protected computer in a locked office. After that, all the information is destroyed according to University of Waterloo policy.

You will be participating in the study by using an online survey operated by Qualtrics. When information is transmitted over the internet, privacy cannot be guaranteed. There is always a risk your responses may be intercepted by a third party (for example: government agencies, hackers). University of Waterloo researchers will not collect or use internet protocol (IP) addresses or other information that could link your participation to your computer or electronic device without first informing you.

Everyone's responses to the survey will be combined to create a summary report, to give us a “big picture” of the experiences of youth in Halton. This report will be available to you, your family, and professionals who work with children, youth, and families on the Our Kids Network website. We know Halton professionals will use the information that you shared to make our communities better places for all children and youth. We expect to share the report with everyone by late 2021.

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee (ORE # 43197). If you or your parents have any questions for the committee, please contact the Office of Research Ethics at 519-888-4567, ext. 36005, or ore-ceo@uwaterloo.ca.