Services delivered: Indigenous child welfare initiatives

Component: provincial initiatives

Legislation: Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (CYFSA)

Service objectives

To work on certain Ministry and Indigenous child welfare initiatives that builds capacity in the Indigenous child welfare sector to enhance services to Indigenous children, youth and families.

Service description

The transfer payment recipient will work with the Ministry to develop and implement certain Indigenous child welfare initiatives described below, to build capacity in the Indigenous child welfare sector to enhance services to Indigenous children, youth and families.

Program/service features

• The services are mainly directed at staff employed by Indigenous children’s aid societies (“societies”) to build organizational capacity in Indigenous societies and enhance service delivery to Indigenous children, youth and families. The transfer payment recipient will work on the following key priorities and initiatives in 2022-2023
• Collaborate with the Ministry on child welfare redesign; which may include developing new child protection tools that focus on outcomes for Indigenous communities
• Offer the new Indigenous Authorized Worker training program to Indigenous societies
• Support the implementation of Helping Establish Able Resource-Homes Together (HEART) and Strong Parent Indigenous Relationships Information Training (SPIRIT)
• Develop training programs to work towards reducing the over-representation of Indigenous children in care as well as frameworks that reflect Indigenous community needs
• Develop a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies to gain a clearer understanding of the number of children, youth and families served by non-Indigenous societies and strategies to deliver culturally-appropriate services, and enhance collection of identity-based data
• Collaborate with the Ministry to develop and design an Indigenous data management strategy to capture outcome measures for children, youth and families served by Indigenous societies; and
• Develop a plan with its member societies to build financial capacity within the sector

The program/services contracted by the ministry will reflect the following features.

Program goals

Improve societies performance in the areas of the delivery of culturally based child protection services and programs; and financial and data management.

Services will be

• Reflective and responsive to child/youth, family and community strengths and needs
• Accountable to Indigenous societies, children, youth, family and community
• Sensitive to the social, linguistic and cultural diversity of families and Indigenous communities
• Staffed by individuals with the appropriate range of skills and abilities necessary to deliver on key priorities and initiatives

Ministry expectations

Child Welfare Redesign

• The transfer payment recipient will participate in Ministry child welfare redesign engagements and meetings, and will work with the ministry to develop new child protection tools that focus on outcomes for Indigenous communities
• New Child Protection Worker Training and Pathway to Authorization Process
• The transfer payment recipient will implement a new child protection worker training and pathway to authorization process, including train-the-trainer sessions for Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies
• Helping Establish Able Resource-Homes Together (HEART) and Strong Parent Indigenous Relationships Information Training (SPIRIT) Implementation
• The transfer payment recipient will conduct activities to support implementation and roll-out of HEART and SPIRIT to Indigenous and non-Indigenous children’s aid societies provide-wide including
• As stated in policy directive 003-20, the Ontario Practice Model (OPM) has expanded to include HEART and Strong Parent SPIRIT as a culturally appropriate alternative(s) to the Structured Analysis Family Evaluation (SAFE) and Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education (PRIDE), for the purpose of assessing and training Indigenous and non-Indigenous caregivers who are caring for Indigenous children and youth determined to be in need of protection
• Societies must be trained in the use of HEART and SPIRIT by ANCFSAO, as SPIRIT by ANCFSAO retains the sole right to authorize the use of the tools by any party. Training and program expertise regarding SAFE, PRIDE and Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) is available through the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS)

The transfer payment recipient will

• Organize the delivery and administration of HEART and SPIRIT training, as required across the province
• Train and support trainers to facilitate the delivery of HEART and SPIRIT Provide the materials required for training
• Support staff in societies in the provision of training, including mentoring and coaching on the use and delivery and evaluation of HEART and SPIRIT
• Work with societies and First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities to customize HEART and SPIRIT to incorporate the community customs, specific cultural and historical contexts of different First Nations communities or communities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people, for instance by including traditional stories and teaching, spiritual practices, and the role of elders; and
• Maintain and update a system to track and report on training attendance
• Develop and design new training programs to address the over-representation of Indigenous children in care
• The transfer payment recipient will develop and design new training programs with its member societies and community members to work towards reducing the over-representation of Indigenous children-in-care
• Develop a memorandum of understanding with the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies
• The transfer payment recipient will develop a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies in order to better capture data related to Indigenous children and families served by non-Indigenous societies through accurate collection of identity-based data
• Develop and design an Indigenous Child Welfare Data Management Strategy
• The transfer payment recipient will participate in Ministry-led meetings and working groups and will work on such initiatives and projects related to an Indigenous child welfare data management strategy as may be agreed upon by the Ministry and the transfer payment recipient
• Develop a plan with its member societies to build financial capacity within the Indigenous child welfare sector
• The transfer payment recipient will conduct activities to support the development of a plan with its member societies to build ongoing financial forecasting and financial management capacity within Indigenous societies

Reporting requirements

Service data will be reported on at an Interim and Final stage in a supplementary report-back template and in TPON.