Dr. Melanie M. Doucet

Dr. Doucet has been working to improve the lives of youth in care for over 20 years, starting in her home province of New Brunswick, and now based in the unceded traditional territory of the Kanyenʼkeháka (Mohawk) Nation in Montreal, Quebec. She is a former youth in care, holds a PhD in Social Work, is an expert consultant, an Adjunct Professor at the McGill University School of Social Work and Université Laval, a member of the McGill Centre for Research on Children and Families (CRCF) and the Executive Director of the newly established lived experience-led organization, the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates (NCYICA). Prior to relocating to Montreal, Dr. Doucet was a Project Officer for the Government of N.B.’s award winning Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) project for children and youth with emotional, behavioural and mental health issues, and was pivotal to its province-wide implementation. Her doctoral research, Relationships Matter for Youth ‘Aging Out’ of Care, received national attention and provided a platform for youth from care in the Greater Vancouver Area to develop child welfare research, policy and practice recommendations based on their lived experience expertise.

Dr. Doucet is a renowned public speaker on the importance of equitably supporting youth in and from care from a rights-based and humane perspective. Her work has received high-level acclaim including a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grants, and most recently, the Erminie Cohen Compassion Award. Dr. Doucet’s research aims to provide a platform for the voice of youth from care in proposing specific recommendations relevant to child welfare policies, programs and intervention strategies targeted to young people in care transitioning to adulthood. She is a passionate mentor to and advocate for youth involved in the child welfare system, and is currently leading the Equitable Transitions to Adulthood for Youth in Care project alongside the members of the National Council of Youth in Care Advocates.