Rebuilding the village for vulnerable families

in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

VISION

To see a united Saskatoon church community relationally connected with and effectively serving vulnerable children and families engaged in the Saskatoon child welfare system.

MISSION 

The church in Saskatoon caring together for families in the child welfare system and improving the lives and outcomes of them by building resilience in the continuum of families responsible for their care. 


The Village

It takes a village to raise a child. Unfortunately not every family in our city has the village of support around them that they need. This is particularly the case with families caring for Saskatoon's most vulnerable children. 

Each day more innocent children enter the Saskatoon child welfare system, facing trauma that  could destroy their futures if they do not receive the intervention and healing support that they  need. Children in our child welfare system suffer higher rates of crippling PTSD than our soldiers  returning from war. These children urgently need a stable family environment where they can  belong, build relationships, and learn to both give and receive love in order to develop and  grow. 

Thankfully, some Saskatoon families are responding. Foster families and Kinship (those led by  grandparents, aunties, etc) families are opening their homes to welcome in children. And a  great number of birth moms and dads are working hard to reunify with children previously  apprehended into child welfare and to restore their family environment. These families are living pictures of grace and reconciliation in our midst. But their path is also filled with challenges, and many are walking it alone. 

Specifically, many birth parents who are walking away from past addictions or unsafe situations  have to leave behind the only family and friends that they know in order to provide the safety,  stability and new start their children need. This means they face building a life on their own,  without the village of relationships and the supports every parent needs. 

Many such families can't survive even the small bumps we all inevitably face, often resulting in  a family breakdown and children being removed and cycled back again into foster care or even  institutional care. This is a tragedy for everyone involved, and it has to stop. It can be stopped.  Many birth parents are doing their part, but there is a piece missing around them. 

Sons & Daughters mobilizes men, women and families within the body of Saskatoon churches to build supportive relationships with families caring for children in the Saskatoon child welfare  system. This includes foster, kinship and birth families.

  • In these sharing circles I get wisdom from each one of you and I take that and it helps me to raise my kids.” - Grandmother in Saskatoon raising 3 of her grandchildren

A Relational Model of Care

Supporting
Birth Moms

Inter-generational cycles of trauma, addiction and poverty are driving a current crisis in Saskatoon of family breakdown and child removal. But many birth moms are working to heal and be restored to care for their children.

Often this involves walking away from past relationships and situations in order to provide the safety, stability and new start their family needs. This means they face building a life on their own, without the village of relationships and supports every parent needs. Many of the mothers involved in child welfare were never parented themselves.

Sons & Daughters mobilises volunteer families from within Saskatoon churches to join together and stand alongside these mothers in intentional, committed friendships: journeying alongside them in relationship as they navigate the beautiful but bumpy life of a family.

Sons & Daughters is proud to partner with Sanctum 1.5 in this intiative.

Mentoring Boys

1 in 4 Saskatchewan children in care are being housed in institutional settings. Half of them are under age 11, including babies. These children have fallen through all the layers of protective families and often lack even a single ongoing relationship that they can count on in their lives.

Sons & Daughters mobilizes men from Saskatoon churches to connect with boys living in a local group home. Men pair into twos and mentor one boy, building long-term relationships through regular visits and activities.

Caring for Foster Parents

Foster parents play a crucial role providing a temporary safe, healing family environment for children in crisis while their birth families heal and prepare for reconciliation. In order to play their role foster parents need encouragement and support.

As the number of children being apprehended from birth families has increased in Saskatchewan, the number of foster homes has not kept pace. This means 25% of children in Saskatchewan child welfare are now housed in institutional settings, cared for by paid staff.

Sons & Daughters mobilises volunteers from within Saskatoon churches to encourage foster families through regular hosting and events:

  • weekly coffee and play peer groups for foster parents and kids

  • monthly support nights for foster moms, including child care

  • monthly Foster Parent Night Out events providing trauma-informed care nights for children in foster families, giving parents a night off and out!

Kinship Families

Extended families, especially Grandparents (or Kokums and Mushoms), are the traditional first line of support for families in crisis. But amid inter-generational trauma, many grandparent-led families feel overwhelmed and fragile. More grandparents are stepping up every day in Saskatoon to care for their grandchildren struggling in foster or institutional care. But they can't be expected to do it alone.

Sons & Daughters mobilises volunteer families from within Saskatoon churches to join together and stand alongside these grandparents in two ways, by:

  • developing a peer support community through regular events celebrating and serving Grandparent-led families and their grandchildren.

  • creating intentional, committed friendships for Grandparent-led families: journeying alongside them in relationship as they navigate the beautiful but bumpy life of a family.