RELEASE — It was a bright sunny day when a group of community leaders, city politicians, clergy and people from Queen’s University gathered at Kingston City Hall to sign a charter starting our Children’s Aid Society. It was August 1st, 1894.
The story of how we began is one of courage and commitment. The famous child advocate, JJ Kelso, started the Children’s Aid movement in Toronto a few years earlier. The idea of an organization helping children in need took off across Ontario. A Children’s Aid Society started in Napanee a few years later in 1899 (the Napanee and Kingston branches amalgamated in 2012 to form our current Agency).
As Canada has grown and changed it has had to face a sad legacy about the ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples and cultures, a genocide that Child Welfare played and plays a significant role in. We celebrate the courage and character of the Indigenous peoples of KFLA that are bringing us their wisdom to ensure the future is brighter for their families. Megwich.
Likewise, our work with racialized and LBGTQ2S+ communities is rapidly evolving. We believe that communities are at the heart of our work. Severing people from their culture and community, however they define them, is a legacy that needs to stop with this generation, stop with us. We need everyone to help us make that a reality. That is the bold future that is reflected in our new vision: Children and Youth Growing Up in Their Families, Cultures and Communities.
We aren’t the same organization that we used to be, or that most people think we are. Since our amalgamation in 2012 we have reduced children and youth in care by 60%. And we are not done yet. Not by a long shot. Our growing commitment to family engagement means that we’re becoming better at keeping families in crisis together.
When families are in crisis we turn first to their extended family. Foster care is increasingly a temporary measure. We haven’t forgotten our history, both good and bad. It both inspires and challenges us in every step we take.
We are a learning organization evolving to serve KFLA even better. We are Family and Children’s Services and you are the community we serve.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Make a donation now and we’ll send a deserving kid to camp.
Send a youth in care to college or university by making a donation.
Release | Image: Family and Children’s Services FLA
