Fresh Start operates Ministry-licensed homes across the Greater Toronto Area. Each one is sized, staffed, and shaped around the young people inside it.
We do not run programs. We run homes. The difference is not a brochure — it is a kitchen, a curfew, a calendar on the fridge, a staff member who learns how the youth in their care take their tea.
We build relationships that last a lifetime.
The kids we deal with have nobody. A lot of them fell through the cracks because they had no way to go.
We are family. We care.
High-functioning autistic. LGBTQ+ youth who didn't feel safe in their last placement. The ones other places couldn't hold. The ones who fell through every crack the system has.
We legit save lives.
We are family. We do everyday life together.
We are the specialists in showing up.
This is what makes us different. While others run sessions, we run a home. While others teach skills in classrooms, we teach them at the kitchen table, in the laundry room, on the drive to an appointment.
We are the specialists.
The foundation. How to give it. How to receive it. How to recognize it in yourself.
The things every adult needs to know — and the things our kids were never taught. Cooking. Cleaning. Managing a day. Caring for a space.
How to speak. How to listen. How to interact with each other. How to talk to a police officer without it escalating. How to hold a conversation that holds your future.
We track time with each individual. One-on-one. Hours, given. Attention, given. This is not a group program. This is personal.
How to earn it. How to manage it. How to think about it. How to build a life that doesn't depend on the wrong people.
Not a rotating shift of strangers. Not a different face every week.
This is a structural commitment most agencies cannot make. It is the reason the relationships last.
We are also building a team that understands the culture. Slowly. Carefully. The right people, not just available people. Because culture cannot be hired — it has to be raised.
Fresh Start has operated for eighteen years without a single donation and without a single volunteer. Every person who works in our homes is compensated for their time, every shift, every hour, every year.
Paid work is professional work, and professional work is what the young people in our care deserve.
The organization is funded entirely through Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services per-diem placements. The Ministry pays for care. Fresh Start pays its people. That is the entire model. It is the reason our team stays and the work endures.
What we have built cannot be packaged and sold. The culture cannot be copied — only lived, only raised, only earned over years.
We are seen as family by the kids who pass through this house. That is not a service offering. That is a promise we keep.
Fresh Start is a Ministry-licensed Children's Residence with staff trained in CPI, ASIST, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction.
We maintain documented placements, signed plans of care, and QAM compliance while supporting adults.
Our team also receives ongoing in-house trauma-informed training through our 5 Pillars Partners — strengthening the quality, safety, and impact of our program.
Fresh Start operates a Ministry-licensed Children's Residence in Pickering, with additional residential capacity in Scarborough for youth who need stable, staffed housing inside the Fresh Start operating model.
Every placement is run under the same principles described on this page. Same staffing standards. Same Director Principle. Same operating culture. Same expectation that the relationship outlasts the placement.
For coordinators considering a referral, the right starting point is a conversation, not a brochure. Use the form on the Contact page and we will respond within one business day.
Clarity matters at intake. Here is who we serve, the documentation we need, and the conversations we have before a young person arrives at our front door.
12 to 18 years, all genders.
Residential and treatment-supportive placements. Complex needs welcome.
Children's Aid Societies and MCCSS partners across Ontario.
Same-day response, every business day.