The province is launching a $650,000 program to help recruit more foster parents, with almost half the funds — $300,000 — going to finding more aboriginal caregivers for native children.

Aboriginal children make up 58 per cent of youngsters in foster care but only a third of those kids are living with native families.

Anne Crane cares for seven foster children, all aboriginal. She believes placing native foster children with aboriginal families is vital for proper development of the youngsters
(CBC)

Anne Crane, a foster parent on the Tsuu T'ina First Nation west of Calgary who has taken in more than 20 aboriginal children since 1982, says it's her way of keeping native culture alive — a culture that is being lost when children are placed in non-aboriginal homes.

"They have to understand who they are and be proud of who they are, where they come from, their roots," she said.

Targeting the extended family

Lisa Nisbet, a spokeswoman for Alberta Children Services agrees it's an easier transition for native children if they are placed in an aboriginal home.

But finding even non-aboriginal foster families is getting harder right across Canada, so the provincial government is trying to target the extended aboriginal family.

"Sometimes it is just a matter of making extended family aware there are kids who they are related to who they could be helping," said Nisbet.

Audrey Poitras-Snyder, who recruits foster parents on the reserve, said the reason so many aboriginal kids are in foster care is because of a lack of education on the reserve.

"Of course there is all the other problems that are entailed, such drinking and drug abuse."

Aboriginal people who can help need to act quickly, she said.

"There is a very high rate, as I see it, of suicide and we need to prevent it with the youth. They have to have a purpose and that purpose is their culture."

The recruitment drive will begin in the fall.