Native people encouraged to apply as foster parents

George McGeough would like to see more Aboriginal families in the Edmonton area become foster parents.

McGeough is manager of the foster care program at the Ben Calf Robe Society, an Edmonton-based organization that provides a variety of programs to the local Aboriginal community, including an Aboriginal Head Start program, a traditional parenting program, home and family support services and a group home.

The society has been running a foster care program since 1999 and currently has 10 foster families providing care for children in Edmonton and surrounding area.

"There's a severe shortage for any kind of foster parents, but in particular Aboriginal families," McGeough said. "Like, for example, in our program, of the foster families we have, I think there's four that are Aboriginal. And so, if we could have some more families we're more than happy to bring them on."

People wanting to become foster parents must first go through a 25-hour pre-service training provided by the department of Child and Family Services, McGeough explained. That is followed by a home study.

"We talk to all the members of the family to ensure that the family is suitable and able to care for the kids. We make sure the home is safe," he said. "We also do criminal and child welfare record checks to ensure that everyone over the age of 18 doesn't have a record."

Once a family is approved as a foster family they will be licensed by the province, and as part of the licensing process the province will do yearly inspections of the foster home.

Ben Calf Robe provides all its foster families with ongoing support, McGeough said. That includes monthly visits, weekly telephone calls to keep up to date on how things are going, and training for the foster parents.

There are a number of advantages that come from being able to place Aboriginal children with Aboriginal foster parents, McGeough said.

"I think that kids that come into an Aboriginal home feel more accepted and they feel that they're not different," he said. "And I think Aboriginal families understand the kinds of issues that brought the kids into care better. I think that they understand. If they haven't directly been affected by poverty they have family that have been. They know better what it means to be discriminated against. They understand more ... I think they've walked a mile in those shoes.

"You know how extended family is important to the Aboriginal culture. So it's almost like more family. It's easier to fit that bill ... it's easier to fit with that kind of a concept. And I think for parents of these kids, it also helps them, too. I think that there are a lot of parents that are happier to know that their children are in an Aboriginal home."

While he stressed that foster families in Ben Calf Robe's program must meet the same requirements as foster families with any other organization, staff at Ben Calf Robe try to deal with Aboriginal foster parents in a "culturally friendly way."

"We try to be understanding and sensitive to cultural needs and that kind of thing because I think sometimes with Aboriginal families, there can be a lack of trust. And so basically we try to support them, be accepting and be understanding and supportive for them in the journey to become a foster parent."

With more than half of the foster families currently involved in the Ben Calf Robe Society's foster care program being non-Aboriginal, staff work to support those foster families in their efforts to help kids in care maintain a connection to their culture.

"We provide programs," McGeough said. "And we make it a part of the expectation that they involve the kids in Aboriginal culture and in programming and those kinds of things. We also have other parts of Ben Calf Robe that includes after school programs and that kind of thing where we involve the kids as much as possible."

While some of the older children in care are a bit resistant when in comes to taking part in these types of cultural programs, the younger children are usually very enthusiastic. "And that's important, I think, to help them connect to their culture," McGeough said.

"We try to encourage the kids to maintain contact with their culture and to be as involved in their culture as possible, and also their family, their immediate family, as much as possible. The whole goal is to keep children safe until they're ready to return home, until home is ready for them."
For more information about the Ben Calf Robe Society's foster care program, call (780) 477-6648.