Access Guidelines: What Are They & How Are They Used?
The Access Practice Directive is a VACFSS policy that states: Every child has a right to access that supports safe connections to their parent(s), family, community(ies), and culture(s). In this context, access is defined as:
“Contact between a child in placement and their parent(s), siblings and/or other people who are important to them.”
Supporting a child’s right to access can:
- Strengthen the child’s sense of belonging, attachments, and resilience;
- Support the child’s well-being and adjustment to their placement;
- Honour the child’s cultural identity;
- Enable the child’s parent(s) to learn, practice and demonstrate parenting skills;
- Strengthen parental confidence and capacity to meet the child’s needs;
- Facilitate and strengthen the parent-child relationship; and
- Increase the likelihood and timeliness of reunification.
The Access Practice Directive outlines when and how social workers implement access, including determining visit supervision, how access affects the child, supporting the permanency plan, risks associated with access, and reviewing arrangements. Download the Access Practice Directive for detailed information regarding access arrangements and how decisions are made regarding acces
Inclusive Foster Care Meetings & How to Prepare for One.
Inclusive Foster Care meetings are used to discuss foster caregivers’ engagement with inclusive fostering practices, including their understanding of Inclusive Foster Care, what they know about the child’s Nation, and how they are or will support the child’s cultural and relational permanency.
Inclusive Foster Care meetings include multiple partners: the foster caregiver(s), the child’s social worker, and the resource worker, as well as additional participants such as other members of the child’s circle. These meetings happen within the first 30 days of a child arriving at a new placement, with Inclusive Foster Care plan review every 6 months afterwards.
During the meeting the participants discuss the plan for cultural engagement in the home, in the local community, and for contact with the home community. Foster caregivers speak to how they will facilitate the plan and highlight any support they need in achieving their tasks regarding cultural connections. The participants then discuss the plan for connecting with the child’s parent(s), sibling(s), and other important people in their lives. Foster caregivers speak to how they will facilitate this plan and highlight the support needed to achieve their tasks to connect children to their family.
Click here to download the Inclusive Foster Care meeting document that is used during Inclusive Foster Care plan reviews every 6 months.
Foster caregivers can prepare for an Inclusive Foster Care meeting by:
- Reflecting on their understanding of Inclusive Foster Care and what it means to them.
- Thinking about what they know about the child’s home territory and Nation; if not much is known about the child’s Nation, then caregivers should engage in research and find out what they can about the community.
- Reflecting on how you will join or continue to engage with the child’s circle and engage with members in the circle in an empathetic, open, and respectful way.
- Knowing what the permanency plan and alternative permanency plan is for the child.
- Thinking about and documenting cultural engagement that occurs in the home, in the local community, and with the child’s home community.
- Thinking about and documenting how you are strengthening the child’s connection to their parent(s), siblings(s), extended family, and other important people in the child’s life.
- Reflecting on the support you need to better connect the child with their culture and family.
- Reviewing the current care plan for the child.
