Kinship Care
Kinship Care is rooted in traditional connectedness between children, caregivers and community, and has long been a custom in First Nations communities.
Kinship care is based on a traditional connectedness between children, caregivers and community, and has long been a custom in First Nation communities.
For the Southern Network, kinship care is defined as a family home that is approved to care for a specific child based on a family connection or significant relationship to the child, such as: blood ties, family ties, common ancestry or community membership.
In April 2015, the Unit developed and introduced the Southern Network Kinship Home Licensing Standard through input from our member Agencies and the Southern Network Elders Council.
The intent of the standard is to:
- Encourage family and extended family members to become kinship caregivers;
- Streamline the existing foster care application process to make it less bureaucratic with fewer barriers, less intrusive and more culturally appropriate; and
- Maintain family, community and cultural connections for children in care and move away from a reliance on stranger-based foster homes.