Child and Family Services

Mino Meme Awoo So Win

ᒥᓄ ᒣᒣ ᐊᐔ ᓱ ᐎᐣ  

Our Responsibilities

• Examining community collaborations with current child welfare agencies & data analysis to assess current gaps in services & support.

• Facilitating continuous meetings with leadership& community members to inform about any new research, the law-making process, Advice on creating Child Law & progress moving forward.

• Supporting the KO community visions of what they would like childcare to look like in the Future for their children.
• Supporting all KO community initiatives and providing them with the resources and information to increase opportunities that will allow for KO families & children to thrive. Examples of some of the initiatives we support are Band Rep Programs, Capital Projects, & Age of Majority.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak’ s Child & Family Care Project Started in September 2022 with the submission of a 5-year proposal to initiate the development of a Child Law that would represent & prioritize KO’s own community values in Child Welfare. Our six Keewaytinook Okimakinak communities consist of Deer Lake, McDowell Lake, Fort Severn, North Spirit Lake, Poplar Hill & Keewaywin First Nations. This law will allow every child to be grounded in strong families, communities & relationships to ensure security & safety of every child. Keewaytinook Okimakinak’s Child & Family Care Project is focused on sustaining strong connections to the communities we serve so they remain the driving force behind the development of KO Child Law.

Over the years, Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council has been part of the Tikinagan Child and Family Services providing protection for 30 First Nations communities in northwestern Ontario. Though Tikinagan is a community-based agency, the sheer number of communities they serve means that not enough time and resources are devoted to take care of some of the six (6) KO communities (Deer Lake, Poplar Hill, North Spirit Lake, Fort Severn, McDowell Lake & Keewaywin) member needs. The chiefs of KO after thoughtful deliberations decided to create a niche Child and Family Services agency of its own to better support families and children in need of protection and services in their communities.  This initiative will fully support all on reserve and off reserve KO community members. In accordance with the federal government’s new legislation and the recognition that there is an urgent need to change the way Child and Family Services are delivered to First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, the KO tribal council will start capacity-building activities for its communities to prepare to enter into coordination agreement discussions to include the following.

• self-assessment on readiness to exercise control of their family and child services.
• community consultations
• develop financial models for child and family service governance, management, and delivery of services.
• make laws, regulation and policy development and implementation.
• explore Child and Family Services systems and program model development.
• identify costs related to linking of KO First Nations control with other relevant laws and court systems.