- a’a Nation

Directorate of Programs & Services
Nisg ‐
a’a Child & Family Services
(NCFS)
Organization Information
Nisg ‐
a’a Child and Family
Services (NCFS) provides child
safety and support services in
Gitlax ‐
t’aamiks, Gitwinksihlkw,
Lax ‐
g ‐
alts’ap and Ging ‐
olx, Terrace
and Prince Rupert. Nisg ‐
a’a Child
and Family Services also has a
satellite office in Lax ‐
g ‐
alts’ap.
NCFS strengthens families to
ensure the protection and wellbeing
of Nisg ‐
a’a children in the
least intrusive way possible,
consistent with both the Ayuuk ‐
hl
Nisg ‐
a’a and British Columbia
statutes and polices.
Nisg ‐
a’a Child and Family Services
in the Nass Valley has received
Delegated C6 status from the
Provincial Aboriginal Policy and
Service Support division of the
Ministry of Children and Family
Development. A transition phase
is now in operation as work
that has been carried out by the
Ministry of Children and Family
Development moves to the Nisg ‐
a’a
Child and Family Services office in
Gitlax ‐
t’aamiks.
The Delegated work of Child Safety
(C6) for Nisg ‐
a’a families is currently
being structured. There are four
staff working in the child safety
field with three being mentored by
Director of Practice Agnes Taylor
in conjunction with Aboriginal
Services in Victoria and Ministry
of Children and Family in Terrace.
Once the mentoring is done and
the workers have achieved full C6
delegation the child safety work
can move to the Nass Valley.
The Gitlax ‐
t’aamiks office has a
Resource/Guardianship worker
that works on recruiting and completing
home studies on potential
foster homes and respite homes,
and supports foster homes already
in existence. The staff also works
with child and youth that are in
the permanent care of NCFS as
their guardian and makes decisions
around their ongoing care.
The Terrace and Prince Rupert
office of Nisg ‐
a’a Child and Family
Services provides support to urban
Nisg ‐
a’a clients in collaboration with
the Ministry of Children and Family
Development. However, services
are expanding with the move by
the agency to full authority to
handle child safety concerns for
Nisg ‐
a’a members in the Nass
Valley. Services provided by the
Terrace NCFS office works to
reduce the risk to children and
potentially avoid a child safety
investigation on a Nisg ‐
a’a child
that might be in need of protection
through the ability to offer
support to families before they
go into crises and a protection
call is received that needs to
be assessed.
The organizational structure is
such that for any employment,
appointment or execution of a
contract, all NCFS staff, contractors
hired by NCFS, NCFS volunteers,
NLG’s Director of Programs and
Services, and any other person who
has access to confidential information
shall swear or affirm in writing
an oath of confidentially with
respect to any records or
information obtained or created
in the course of providing services
to clients.
The larger Terrace office space is
equipped with audio equipment
so that families living in Vancouver
can attend by video conferencing,
or social workers working with
Vancouver Urban Nisg ‐
a’a clients
can have face to face interaction
via video conference making the
experience client focused and
interactive. This space has also
provided our Family Group Conference
Co-coordinator a ready
accessible room to hold family
meetings to discuss reunification
or to discuss issues of child safety
that might bring a child(ren) in
care if not addressed.
Program Updates
Resource and
Guardianship team
Foster parent recruitment is going
very well, our resource team has
been actively recruiting foster homes
throughout this year. New foster
homes are being opened and
recruitment is ongoing, our resource
social workers are constantly looking
for potential foster parents for
Nisg ‐
a’a children. Our resource team
has been working very hard with
their recruitment campaign.
Permanency planning is one of
the main focus areas for NCFS
off Nisg ‐
a’a Lands and on Nisg ‐
a’a
Lands. All attempts are made
to get children back with their
families as soon as they enter
care, this is done by asking family
who are grandparents, great
grandparents, aunties, uncles
and extended family if they can
be a foster home for their family
member and or looking for a
Nisg ‐
a’a foster home.
Special Assembly of the Nisg -
a’a Nation 2016 ///// 53