Nunavut foster family association in the works
Last Updated: Monday, November 5, 2007 | 9:24 AM CT
CBC News
Nunavut's health minister says she hopes setting up a territorial foster parents' group will encourage more people to take in foster children.
Leona Aglukkaq said the government first wants to ensure that Nunavut's three regions all have foster family associations before establishing a territory-wide network, which would recruit, train and support foster parents.
"The network itself would support each foster parent group from each region," she said on Friday. "That would also help us promote the role of foster parents in each region and each community."
Only the Baffin region has a foster family association at this time. Aglukkaq said she her first priority will be to establish similar groups in the Kitikmeot and Kivalliq regions.
Aglukkaq said the territorial association would also work with the Canadian Foster Family Association in order to exchange information and support with other provincial and territorial organizations.
Nunavut currently has close to 300 foster families, but Aglukkaq said that's not meeting the demand. In some cases, children still have to be sent outside their home communities, or even to southern provinces, when there is nowhere else for them to go.
"They're actually even putting ads out on the radio looking for foster parents or foster families," said Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo, who raised the issue Friday in the legislative assembly.
Tootoo said he wants the territorial government to review the rates paid to foster parents, especially given the rising cost of living in Nunavut.
Aglukkaq said the government added $1 million to the foster parent program just two years ago, but she said she is willing to review the rates again to ensure they're meeting parents' costs.
As well, she added, money isn't always the issue for parents. For example, there are more single-parent families and more working people who cannot take in another child, she said.
She also said she recognizes more work should be done with families, so that children don't have to go to foster homes in the first place.
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