QBOW opened their first Emergency Placement Home in Prince Albert on March 10
Uko Akpanuko
Daily Herald
Child welfares services organization QBOW said it is grateful to receive roughly $908,000 in provincial funding to expand their services in Prince Albert.
The new funding was officially announced on Monday and will allow QBOW to operate a second community-based home that provides temporary care for children under 12 who are in the care of the Ministry of Social Services.
“It’s important for us an agency to continue to build those partnerships within the province,” QBOW Child and Family Services Executive Director Carmen Fourstar said in an interview. “Our agency is federally funded through ISC and when we are able to build partnerships with the province and be operating this type of homes … it feels good as an agency that we are able to do so and that we are very supportive and the partnership and relationship that we have with the people at MSS (Ministry of Social Services) is so important to us.”
The new five-space home opened its doors on March 10. It is QBOW’s first Emergency Placement home. Fourstar said the home is a safe space for children that provides a family-life structure.
“QBOW strives to ensure that our community homes are embedded in culture, ceremony, language and tradition,” Fourstar said. “We ensure these needs are met along with the children’s physical, emotional, and mental needs. The children who live in our homes are loved, nurtured, and cared for to the best of our abilities. Our staff are trained and work hard to ensure it is a safe space for everyone.”
Community-based homes offer immediate placement options for children who cannot safely remain at home while the ministry works with their parents to address safety concerns or until a family-based care option is identified, such as an extended family member.
“This new community-based home addresses the need in Prince Albert and surrounding area for safe and supportive short-term placement options for children who are entering into care,” Social Services Minister Terry Jenson said in a press release. “Partnering with QBOW Child and Family Services will ensure children from the Prince Albert area remain close to their families, friends, school community and cultural connections.”
Fourstar said they wanted to expand their footprint in Prince Albert because two of the four First Nations QBOW represents are located in the area: Beardy’s and Okemasis and Wahpeton Dakota Nation.
She said the organization has had success running homes in the south, and wanted to see similar homes open in the north. With Beardys and Wahpeton so close by, she said, Prince Albert was the obvious choice.
“The need is great, regardless of where you go within the province,” she said.
QBOW Child and Family Services Inc. provides child welfare services to four First Nations in Saskatchewan: Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation, Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation, Wahpeton Dakota Nation and Wood Mountain Lakota Nation. QBOW also currently operates two other ministry-funded community-based care homes – one in Fort Qu’Appelle and another in Prince Albert.
The ministry also looks to extended family, with nearly 60 per cent of children in out of home care being placed with extended family members.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
