The mission of Head Start Foster Homes is to establish, maintain and operate culturally diverse family homes that provide a stable, nurturing and yet therapeutic living environment to children affected by neglect, trauma, sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse.
Head Start Foster Homes cater to children and youth in residential care who come from various racial, ethnic, socio-economic, linguistic and religious backgrounds and sexual orientations who need understanding, inclusive and aware environments.
Our goal is to establish, maintain and operate culturally diverse family homes that provide a stable, nurturing, supportive, therapeutic, temporary home for children at a time when parents and caregivers are facing challenges and working to provide a safe home.
Head Start is committed to culturally appropriate placements to ensure that children grow up with exposure to their culture.
Culture and Identity are emphasized through connections with community members and mentors, as well as exposure to cultural spaces that affirm racial, sexual, and gender identity.
We understand that separation within families and communities can occur. We support healing through individual members and families branching out to networks/communities to enhance positive outcomes for all.
Our focus is to teach basics life skills in such areas as meal preparation, nutrition, job search, money management, self care, employment, etc.
Personal goals are planned with each child and youth in their Plan of Care, goals are designed to give each child and youth the opportunity to self identify their own significant and attainable goals, to be reviewed on a ongoing basis with their worker to optimize full potential successes.
Designed to give each youth the opportunity to establish their own significant and attainable goals, to be reviewed monthly with their key worker to strategize plans of action and determine successes.
Recreational opportunities for all children and youth in their communities. Head Start Foster Homes supports summer and winter community recreation activities for children based on the interest and therapeutic needs of each individual child and youth.
By building a circle for child, youth, and families in supporting community integration and familial connections. Our goal is to create a healing village by providing access to services in order to provide outcomes.
There is an application and assessment process that Head Start Foster Homes completes when a person expresses an interest in fostering. This begins with an initial phone contact to discuss the commitment required to be a foster parent.
Get your questions answered in this section and if you still have questions
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Absolutely!
Foster parents don’t earn a typical income. They are given a set amount of money per day for each child they care for, called a “per diem”. From the per diem, foster parents must buy food, clothing, miscellaneous daily care items, reasonably costed recreational/arts programs, etc. The per diem is not viewed as a form of compensation. Foster parenting is not a job and foster parents are not employees. It is expected that foster parents pay for all the child’s needs from the per diem. There are high cost items which are reimbursed
Yes, we provide you with training during the application process and on an ongoing basis. We offer regular training to our foster parents to further enhance their skills in supporting the children in their care.
We provide on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide support for any situation that may arise.
Each home have a Resource Worker assigned to help keep filing in order, stay compliant with regulations and assist in case management. The Resource Worker will coordinate with the referring agencies and will be available as much as needed.
The Resource Worker will become a really important member of the team and will become an important advocate for you and the children in your home.
Child and youth support – Head Start Child and Youth Workers (CYW) are dedicated to providing 1:1 support to the children in our care on an as-needed basis.
Relief – Each foster parent is entitled to paid relief/respite – Self-care and mental wellness is our gateway to success. We really want to ensure that our care providers get some well-deserved time off!
Driver support – Foster parents are compensated $0.50/km for driving foster children to professional visits, access visits and medical appointments. Foster parents are responsible for these drives but, in special circumstances, we may arrange for a driver to fill-in.
Absolutely!
We think that the best chance of success is when you help us to figure out the right profile for you/your family. We will work with you to determine the ages, gender and number of kids that makes the most sense to you. We always try to match a child according to the family & child’s identity characteristics. We will call you with the profile of a child and you will talk it through with our placement team and with your family/supports before making a decision.
Our target is 2 to 3 months, depending how quickly required documents are completed.
The Home Study is a large document that is created which details your family makeup, history and parenting styles. It is an essential document to fostering and no home may open in Ontario without one. Some people find the questions of the Home Study to be very personal which can cause some discomfort. If you are very private, consider that questions about your relationships and family history will come up before you apply to become a foster parent.
Head Start uses the SAFE (Structured Analysis Family Evaluation) model for all Home Studies. This requires a minimum of three interviews at the potential foster home lasting about one hour each.
NOTE: Foster parents may review the Home Study for errors or omissions and will receive a copy for their own files.
Yes. However, some children have no experience with pets. Extra care should be taken to acclimatize children placed in your home to your pet(s). In some cases, children can be abusive to animals which would be considered before placing such a child in your home. Remember, you are always given as much information as is available to Head Start Foster Homes and the final decision to accept a child is yours.
Check out our full breakdown on who can foster and what’s involved in doing so successfully.
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