English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

F. PRACTICE: ENGAGE OTHERS TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY
Creating positive changes requires the involvement of many service providers
working collaboratively to support the family. Collaborative partnerships might
include the VAW sector or Aboriginal community organizations.
Focus group participants noted that they contacted child welfare because they had
exhausted all available resources, and hoped that CAS might be able to assist their
children during the difficult periods — ​not because they did not wish to parent. This
is something that many felt CAS had misunderstood about them.
PRACTICE TIP
Establish a relationship with an
Aboriginal organization who will work
with the family in a non threatening
way. Including other service providers
can help to support your work and help
to support the family in their safety
planning and identifying family needs.
> > One mother called CAS because she moved down
from the north, had no family and friends and
needed help as she was sick and going on new
medication. She said, “I don’t like CAS but I need
help.” In her dealings with CAS, she had to prove
her competence as a parent. She was not an
incompetent parent, she was just sick and isolated.
> > Another mother had a 14-year-old who had an
addiction and needed help. CAS apprehended him
and put him into a foster home but not into
treatment. He only received treatment once he
was 16 and out of the CAS system.
“A lot of people think nobody loves
USE THE HARMONY CIRCLES
them at all, especially if they lose their
parents or close relatives: they start
In the Harmony Circle model of care, children
thinking no one cares but, in reality,
belong to a family, and the child and family in
people do care and love them, but they
turn belong to a community. If the Harmony
don’t know it and it is ruining their
Circle model is used, then it is important to use
lives. They have to realize other people
interventions that reinforce connection between
do love them and care for them. We
the family, extended family and community. The
have to make the person aware of this.”
Harmony Circle approach establishes a circle of
care around each family. Looking to the extended
- ​Elder from Repulse Bay
family and community for resources, Customary
Care or kinship care are among the first options to
explore if children cannot stay with their parents. A
key task for child welfare professionals is to encourage a collaborative approach and
help to connect the circles (child/family/community/nation) to regain balance and
maintain relationships.
CONNECT WITH THE COMMUNITY
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The Inuit, Métis and First Nations Liaison Group of the Children’s Aid Society of
Ottawa has found that a community approach that brings Aboriginal community
organizations (that can relate to the families, know their stories and know the
challenges and appropriate strategies to develop resiliency) together with CAS is
effective.