FAQ

Yes. Peer mentoring is confidential and non-judgmental — your mentor is another caregiver, not someone reporting back to MCFD or CFS. What you discuss stays between the two of you, so you can bring hard questions, doubts, or mistakes without worrying it will affect your contract or your placements.

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Possibly — CFS mentors are volunteers who hold a current fostering contract, have a minimum of three years’ fostering experience, and have completed the mandatory Foster Caregiver Training Programme along with specialised mentor training. If that sounds like you and you’d like to support other caregivers, talk to your Area Coordinator about becoming a mentor.

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Safe Babies is a specialised training and support programme for foster caregivers who care for infants who were prenatally exposed to alcohol or other drugs. On Vancouver Island it’s administered by CFS and serves the South, Central, and Upper Island areas. It gives caregivers both the practical skills to care for substance-exposed infants and the ongoing support to sustain that care.

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Most of the rules you’ll encounter trace back to a small set of governance documents: the Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA) — the provincial law behind everything in the Family Care Home programme — the Standards for Foster Homes, MCFD’s Resource Work Policies, and the Foster Family Handbook policies on day-to-day care. When a social worker explains a rule or you see a requirement in your Family Care Home Agreement, it’s drawn from one of these.

You have the right to read them. Your CFS Area Coordinator can help you find a specific policy, and your resource social worker can explain how it applies to your situation.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Yes — and knowing you can puts you on more confident footing as a member of the child’s planning team. The CFCSA is public legislation and is free to read at www.bclaws.ca. The Standards for Foster Homes and MCFD’s policy manuals are published on the MCFD website at www.mcf.gov.bc.ca, and current family care rate information is listed at www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/foster/publications.htm.

If you’re not sure which document covers a particular question, your CFS Area Coordinator can help you locate the right policy, and your resource social worker can explain how it applies to your situation.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

A Plan of Care is the action-based planning tool for a child in care. It identifies specific developmental objectives, based on ongoing assessment of the child’s evolving needs and the outcomes of earlier decisions.

It’s completed by the child’s social worker, with the involvement of the child, the family, the extended family, the Aboriginal community (if the child is Aboriginal), the care provider, service providers, and other significant people in the child’s life. As the caregiver, you’re part of that planning team.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; CFS FASD Practice Notes; CFS Trauma-Informed Practice Notes

Acting as a “prudent parent” means paying close attention to a child or youth’s individual developmental needs and making careful, sensible parental decisions that maintain their health, safety, and well-being.

In everyday terms, it’s the standard you apply when weighing decisions about a child in your care — the kind of thoughtful, reasonable judgement a caring parent would use.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; CFS FASD Practice Notes; CFS Trauma-Informed Practice Notes

Call the Poison Control Centre at 1-800-567-8911 — it operates anywhere in British Columbia, 24 hours a day. Use it any time a child has swallowed, touched, or been exposed to something you’re concerned about: medications, household chemicals, plants, or an unknown substance.

If the child is having trouble breathing, is unconscious, or is otherwise in a life-threatening state, call 911 first. When in doubt, make the call — Poison Control would rather hear from you early.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Call the Ministry Helpline for Children at 310-1234 — anywhere in British Columbia, 24 hours a day, with no area code required. This is the right number to report suspected abuse or neglect of any child, including a child in your care, and it is staffed around the clock.

If you’re calling after hours and aren’t sure of the number, you can dial the operator and ask for the Ministry Helpline for Children. For an immediate safety emergency, call 911 first.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

It helps to think of two kinds of calls. An “I’m worried” call is for a concern that hasn’t reached crisis but looks like it might — make these during business hours to the child’s social worker or your resource worker, and make them early rather than waiting for a problem to grow. A “help” call is for something urgent happening right now — use the emergency and after-hours lines for those.

If you can’t tell which kind of call you’re making, make it anyway. Support staff would far rather help you early than step in late, and asking for help is never a sign you’re doing something wrong.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide