Nunavut produces new materials for parents

This image can be found on the Government of Nunavut’s website for foster families.

Communities will have access to new information about foster parenting and child and youth mental health, Monica Ell, Nunavut’s minister of family services said in the legislative assembly May 8.

Through the Nunavut Public Library Services, every community in Nunavut will receive a a collection of 83 books about parenting and child and youth mental health issues.

Most books are written for adults, but some of the books in this collection are also appropriate for children and teens, Ell said.

This book collection is available in public libraries, she said.

But in those communities without a public library, the books will be available through the local high school.

Brochures about child and youth mental health issues have also been translated into Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun and French.

The brochures, created with the Offord Centre for Child Studies, will also be available in libraries, schools, social service offices, and health centres across Nunavut, she said.

And foster parents, as well as those interested in becoming a foster parent, can now find information and support materials on a new website.

“Foster parents are a valuable and essential part of our child welfare system,” said Ell, thanking Nunavut’s foster parents, including aunts, uncles, grandparents and extended family members “who open up their homes and provide care and nurturing to children at risk.”

“We hope that these new resources will make your work a little easier,” Ell said.

The Family Services website is still under construction, but the foster parent website can be accessed through a link on the Department of Health and Social Services web page.

Parenting tip sheets and the child and youth mental health brochures are available for download.

Nunavut has about 200 foster parent families.

Inuit children are more than eight times as likely to live in foster care than non-Aboriginal children under 14, said Statistics Canada data released May 8.