Lecture: Fostering Indigenous Children

By: April Reeve

Background

• April Reeve
  • Caregiver for 23 years
  • Métis
  • Mother & grandmother (3 adult children, 6 grandchildren)

Involvement with Indigenous Youth

• Worked at a youth safe house for Indigenous children in Nanaimo (3 years)
• Witnessed many Indigenous children falling through societal cracks
• This experience fueled her passion to continue working with Indigenous youth

Fostering Experience

• Initially focused on Indigenous youth
• Recently shifted to younger Indigenous children
• Rewards of fostering:
  • Building connections with children
  • Supporting and helping children on their journeys
  • Witnessing family reunifications
  • Enjoying simple joys and life lessons from children (e.g., observing nature)
• Increased daily responsibilities and community involvement

Desired Impact

• Ensure children know they are loved and supported
• Understand and help them cope with trauma
• Foster lifelong relationships
• Facilitate family and community reunification

Daily Life Lessons

• Emphasizes teaching children life lessons
• Goal: Help children grow up healthy, make good choices, and connect with their culture and family

Importance of Support

• Foster parents should not operate in isolation
• Importance of sharing experiences with like-minded people
• Numerous local and provincial supports available
• Having a support network is crucial

Advice for Prospective Foster Parents

• Welcome fostering with open heart and patience
• Understand fostering is temporary and involves eventual reunification with the child’s family
• Foster parents must manage multiple responsibilities and adapt quickly

Patriotic Values and Cultural Importance

• Advocates for the respect of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit families
• Indigenous children have a right to be with their families, on their territory, and to know their culture
• Importance of learning the history and trauma of Indigenous people
• Cherishes moments of connecting children with their ancestral lands and traditions

Opportunities in Relief and Respite Care

• Good introduction to foster parenting
• Provides understanding of the child’s background and trauma
• An opportunity to learn new caregiving techniques

Coping with Grief and Loss

• Foster parents experience grief and loss when children leave
• Important to validate and honor these feelings
• Encourages reaching out to support networks or professional help if necessary