The Child at the Centre
The VACFSS Guardianship program is responsible for the care and well-being of Indigenous children under a Continuing Custody Order. Our approach is situated in a model of the child in the center of their circle of support, surrounded by family and community.
Our work in grounded in a restorative practice approach and the foundations of the Aboriginal Policy and Practice Framework and the VACFSS Raising our Children Together policy.
The core of our work with children focuses on developing holistic care plans with an emphasis on connection to family, culture and community with a view to permanency. As part of these plans, we explore permanency through the lens of four quadrants: relational, cultural, physical and legal.
Our team consists of 15 social workers, 3 team leaders, a guardianship consultant, a lifelong connections worker, and a child and youth engagement coordinator. Together, we hold a shared vision of first reducing the numbers of Indigenous children in care through a commitment to developing child-specific lifelong plans with an emphasis on returning to family, extended family and community, and secondly to ensuring that those of our children that are leaving the care system are leaving with a strong Indigenous identity and a leadership vision for their future.
