Indigenous children and families in Alberta deserve child and family services that are rooted in culture, family connection, community belonging, and the right of Indigenous peoples to care for their own children. For generations, Indigenous families have been impacted by systems that separated children from their homes, Nations, languages, traditions, and identities. Today, there is an urgent need to create stronger pathways for Indigenous children in care to safely return home, remain connected to their families, and be placed within Indigenous-led systems of care whenever possible.

One important step toward this goal is opening and supporting placements that are approved, guided, and governed by the Indigenous child and family services agency connected to the child, family, Nation, or community. These placements may include community-based caregiver placements. When Indigenous agencies have the authority and resources to open and oversee these placements, children are more likely to remain connected to who they are, where they come from, and the people who love them.

Changes For Hope Inc has created community-based caregiver homes for the youth in care that can be their “Home away from Home”.  We have done this through collaboration and by encompassing the community into the agency. We welcome the Teachers and Elders from the community into the homes to create a learning experience and provide teachings for the youth from their nations so that they know where they come from and understand they may return.  We are willing to dedicate our home strictly for the use of a single Indigenous Community at the request of their Chiefs, Council and Children’s Services Director.

Indigenous-led placement options support the best interests of the child by recognizing that safety includes more than physical care. Safety also includes cultural identity, family bonds, language, ceremony, land-based connection, sibling relationships, and belonging to community.

Changes For Hope Inc creates partnerships with Indigenous agencies, Nations, and communities in ways that honour Indigenous jurisdiction, cultural knowledge, and family-centered decision-making. This approach aligns with the principles of the federal Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, which affirms the importance of Indigenous children staying connected to their families, communities, cultures, languages, and Nations.

To support Indigenous children coming home, Changes For Hope Inc works directly with Indigenous agencies to remove barriers that delay or prevent placement approval. Indigenous agencies must be supported not only to identify homes, but to fully govern and guide those placements according to their values, laws, traditions, and community standards.

Opening Indigenous-governed placements creates a stronger bridge for reunification. It allows children to be cared for by people who understand their background, culture, family history, and community responsibilities. It also gives parents and families a better opportunity to remain involved, work toward reunification, and rebuild trust with support from their own community and agency.

The goal is not simply to place children somewhere safe, but to bring children back to family, back to culture, and back to community. Indigenous children should not have to lose their identity in order to receive care. They should be surrounded by people and systems that honour their roots and support their future.

Changes For Hope Inc, “Home Away From Home” program supports Indigenous-governed placement approval. The program respects cultural decision-making: Indigenous agencies, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community leadership are included in placement decisions when appropriate.

Strengthen reunification planning: Every placement should include a plan to keep children connected to parents, siblings, family, culture, and community whenever safe and possible.

Honour Indigenous jurisdiction: Systems must recognize the right of Indigenous peoples to care for their children according to their own laws, traditions, and community practices.

Bringing Indigenous children home requires more than good intentions. It requires action, partnership, respect, and a commitment to Indigenous-led solutions.

Partnerships created with Changes For Hope “Home Away For Home” community care program that are governed by Indigenous agencies, can help repair harm, support family reunification, and ensure Indigenous children grow up with the love, identity, culture, and belonging they deserve.

Indigenous children belong with their families, their communities, their Nations, and their culture. Supporting Indigenous agencies to lead placement decisions is a meaningful step toward healing, justice, and a better future for Indigenous children and families.

Changes For Hope Inc will ensure that our staffing is experienced in Trauma Informed Care and Indigenous Culture, and we will try to hire Indigenous staff from the community we are engaging with to ensure continuity of culture.

The core of any successful collaboration is the development of relationships. This relationship is not a friendship, but rather a relationship with a purpose that is built on care, trust, and respect and must preserve cultural, familial, and territorial connections.

We want to ensure that all children/youth understand where they come from, and by creating a “Home away from Home” specifically for youth of a single Indigenous Community we can be successful. We advocate for a return to family, however we understand that sometimes this may not be in the youth’s best interest, although we feel maintaining family connections always is.

Youth are supported in the relationships that are important to them and to maintain their own culture and practice their religious or spiritual beliefs. Where appropriate, family involvement will be encouraged and outings in the community are supported and encouraged.

We support the youth’s education and offer in-house tutoring during after school hours for them to be successful in their grades. Changes For Hope believes that sports can also play a role for the youth to grow and provide a healthy outlet for energy away from high-risk lifestyles. The program encourages the youth to openly express their feelings appropriately regarding themselves and significant others and promotes the personal goals of the youth. In cooperation with the youth the program provides for the development of Individual Service Goals according to his/her Strengths, Needs, Abilities, and Preferences.

Indigenous youth who live outside of their home community are often served by a region that has little to no involvement with their home community. Changes For Hope “Home away from Home” program through collaboration with the home community ensures that the youth needing placement outside of their communities still feel their communities are with them.