Until the Last Child and The Children’s Aid Society of Toronto have partnered to increase opportunities for permanency in family based care and life long connections. The innovative one year pilot project funded through Until the Last Child invests in efforts to search for and engage extended family members, as well as community members who can be explored as potential caregivers and life-time support networks for children and youth in care.
The overall objective of the pilot project is to increase the incidence of permanency through the development of best practices. This is best achieved by implementing and refining innovative approaches to the multi-dimensional issues surrounding the family finding process. In addition, the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and Until the Last Child are committed to evaluation and measuring permanency outcomes for children and youth.
The Guiding Principles for this pilot project include:
a) To encourage families to consider and rely on their own family members as resources.
b) To enhance children/youth’s opportunity to stay connected to their own communities.
c) To promote community responsibility for children and families.
d) To strengthen the ability of families to give children/youth the support they need.
e) To enable children/youth to live with persons they know and trust.
f) To reduce the trauma children/youth experience when they are separated from their family.
g) To reinforce child/youth’s sense of identity and self-esteem which flows from knowing their family history.