Hay River’s health authority is trying to find more foster homes and improve supports for foster families as the effects of the town’s drug crisis widen.
In a recent report, staff at the health authority said the prevalence of drugs and addictions in the town is “contributing to more children coming into care.”
More foster homes need to be found, the report states, more staff are needed to support youth, and more funding is needed for community-based programs.
As of September, six youth were placed in what the health authority terms “regular foster homes” in Hay River. Two more were in respite homes and eight others were placed under other arrangements, including homes outside the territory.
The health authority has launched a campaign to recruit more foster families in the area. The authority also says it has established a support group for foster families.
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The number of families in Hay River dealing with addictions is rising, said Jo-Anne Henderson-White, the authority’s director of child, family and community wellness.
“Based on that, we know we need to pivot and meet families where they are at,” Henderson-White told Cabin Radio.
“We’ve been working really closely with the health team to provide information and raise awareness, giving the staff tools so they can deal with situations that come up with families and make people aware of the community situation.
“My focus is around ensuring children are safe, that we have supports for people requiring mental health and addictions treatment and support for youth out of school and in school, and generally ensuring that families have access to supports they need.”
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Henderson-White said the authority distinguishes between prevention and protection in the services it provides to the town’s youth.
Prevention is the focus, she said, working with families to get them into programs that can help, or encouraging extended families to support relatives who might be in crisis.
“The last measure we take is to remove a child, if we need to, for their safety,” said Henderson-White.
“If they’re in a situation that the risk level is so high we cannot keep them safely with family, we will move towards extended family, so the child remains in that circle of care with people they’re familiar with.”
Even so, she said during a regular health authority meeting last week, “a lot of our work had to be focused on protection rather than prevention” in recent months.
More broadly, requests for mental health supports received by the authority “surged” in September according to data in a report submitted at that meeting. Data for October and November is not yet available.
The mental health and addictions team said the increase “suggests growing community engagement and possibly more complex or recurring needs.”
“The consistent presence of stress and addiction-related issues points to underlying community stressors that may require broader intervention,” the report added.
