Foster parents wanted urgently for Aboriginal children

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The director of the Edmonton District Foster Family and Adoptive Parent Recruitment program, which looks for foster and adoption homes in the Ma'mowe Capital Region, describes herself as "something of a marketing specialist with a passion for kids."

But Miri Jeanette Fawcett-Weir stresses she is not a social worker.

"My job is to find homes; that's my mandate. Appropriate, good-matching homes."

It's hard, because people have such different ideas about what is an acceptable or appropriate home for a child. It's also hard because although she is one-quarter Blackfoot, "I'm seen by the Aboriginal community as a Caucasian person, so it's hard for people to trust, so I'm working through some of those barriers."

As the consummate multi-tasker, Fawcett-Weir tries to maintain high visibility at public events where she can raise awareness about the "ongoing, constant need for foster homes, for those children that are legally free, and for those (rare) treaty status kids that have band consent to find adoptive homes for them."

She explained that in the urban area, "we desperately need off-reserve treaty status families to be involved in our program."

They do also work with reserves, "and whenever we can, we place children with their bands."

She admits there is a big barrier to many Aboriginal families working with the recruitment program. "It's our process," she said. "It's intimidating."

Because there are so few Aboriginal families on their roster, Fawcett-Weir estimates that "less than five per cent of our Aboriginal kids are placed in Aboriginal homes." In the outlying areas and on the reserves there is better success placing children with Aboriginal families "because they have the resources."

She does get some help. Although she doesn't directly work with Yellowhead Tribal Council, Fawcett-Weir considers the organization to be "a great resource for finding Aboriginal homes for Aboriginal kids.

"What we're trying to do," she added, "is attract those families that live in Sherwood Park, Leduc, St. Albert city proper, and Edmonton. I know they're out there, because I see them at all the events that I go to. . . . The problem is getting them involved in our system."

According to Fawcett-Weir, even Native foster agencies have a hard time recruiting Native foster families.

Fawcett-Weir has attempted to adopt a child herself and has struggled with the process, even though she works within the system and is familiar with the requirements. For someone who might have trouble expressing what they think or feel, "especially when it comes to our home study . . . they're going to just turn around and say 'forget it, it's just not worth it'."

In Calgary, by contrast, about 60 per cent of Aboriginal children that come into care now are placed in Aboriginal homes, and that is a goal Fawcett-Weir aims for. The difference right now, she said, is that Calgary has a whole unit that works solely on supporting and bringing in Aboriginal families.

Fawcett-Weir believes their new CEO, Bill Meade, who formerly spearheaded the improvement from 10 to 60 per cent in Calgary , will be instrumental in turning the Capital Region around.

She added that various estimates set the number of Aboriginal children on social workers' case loads at 50 to 60 per cent of their total. In her opinion those numbers reflect a lack of preventive services and supports for parents.

"These are families who seek us out for help, and a few months later, their kids are in care. What did we do as a society that failed them? That's what I want to know."

Fawcett-Weir stressed that the one thing she wants to convey to people who are interested in fostering or adopting, is that "one way or another, we'll work with them to get them through the process. We can put them in touch with Elders if they need it, because I have those resources available . . . but they've got to be willing to stick it out."

One of the reasons the process is so difficult is "safety" for the hildren. Part of the process is legislated, to ensure children are protected.

But Fawcett-Weir said that "even if there is some prior criminal involvement in the past, i.e., a drug possession charge, or drunk driving or something like that, something that's minor," a family or individual wanting to adopt or foster will not necessarily be excluded from their program. It is handled case by case. Only people who have been charged with major offences such as assault or rape, or "any previous history of causing a child to need child protection services," would not be encouraged.

After the police check, there is a child welfare check, then a legislated parental training period.

"This is where a lot of people get insulted. They may already be a parent and they don't feel that it's necessary to take parenting training.

"But this is where the difference is: Kids that have been traumatized, by either a move from home, or neglect, or some kinds of circumstances that were unhealthy in their home environment are very different than raising a biological child that has not had that experience."

The training, she said, takes a month, either four Saturdays or eight week nights. She said it is usually fun and gives people the chance to interact and exchange ideas about parenting. If someone misses a session they can make it up on another date.

Once the training is completed, the prospective foster parent has to submit a "self-assessment report." Fawcett-Weir said "This is where it gets tricky." It is a barrier for people who are not used to expressing themselves in writing, but it is important, she explained, because it forms the basis for the home report the social worker does when he or she visits the home.

At the home visit, which is about 12 hours and spread among about three visits and includes interviews with all the family members, the social worker finds out what age, gender, race and special needs the family can handle, and what kind of child would be compatible with he children who are already living there.

"The idea is not to not pass you," she said. "The idea is by all means to do what we can to get families involved."

At the end the social worker makes a recommendation to a panel to approve a family or not, and the panel decides.

"If the social worker is able to establish that there is stability in the home and that they can make a commitment to a child, and nurture that child and provide them with a sense of stability, then there is not reason why they would not get approved."

Filling out an application, passing the checks, doing the training, writing the self-assessment and participating in a home assessment is a "self-driven" process that can take as little as four months or as long as three years.

"We're never going to run out of kids, I can tell you that, there's always going to be some kids there."

If anyone wants to "step up to the challenge," Fawcett-Weir encourages them to call her at (780)496-3546.