Locations Offering This Service
How We Help
Guided by Indigenous Family Counsellors with knowledge in and experience with culturally appropriate traditions and practices, the Indigenous Family Preservation and Reunification program aims to increase safety and stability for Indigenous children while preventing out-of-home placements. In circumstances where children have been placed out of the home, our team works with family members to reunite them in the best way possible.
The lasting impacts of colonization
Our commitment
We recognize the lasting multi-generational impacts of colonization, residential schools, and the 60s scoop, and we acknowledge our connection to the legacy that is child and family services in Canada. In 2022, Westcoast committed to prioritizing our own knowledge regarding Truth, Reconciliation, and how our agency can best support Indigenous families and staff. Though we are early in our journey, we have had the opportunity to hire Indigenous Advisors to lead the organization’s transformation and to create an internal Indigenous Sharing and Learning Circle to promote staff education as well as to research and advocate for positive change within the organization.
Calls to Action
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its findings after six years travelling across Canada and hearing from more than 6,500 witnesses. Their final reports included 94 “calls to action” to further reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. From these 94 calls to action, there were five recommendations that pertain to Child Welfare, including:
- We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to commit to reducing the number of Aboriginal children in care….
- We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, to prepare and publish annual reports on the number of Aboriginal children…who are in care, compared with non-Aboriginal children, as well as the reasons for apprehension, the total spending on preventive and care services by child-welfare agencies, and the effectiveness of various interventions.
- We call upon all levels of government to fully implement Jordan’s Principle.
- We call upon the federal government to enact Aboriginal child-welfare legislation that establishes national standards for Aboriginal child apprehension and custody cases….
- We call upon the federal, provincial, territorial, and Aboriginal governments to develop culturally appropriate parenting programs for Aboriginal families.
This information was obtained from https://nctr.ca/ and https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1450124405592/1529106060525.
