Getting Started

Thank you for choosing to care for a child you know while their parents are working on ways to safely care for their child. This is an important job and one that is very meaningful in the life of a child and their family.

How to Apply

Contact an Initial Assessment Worker at 519-576-0540 or email inquiries@facswaterloo.org

You can also talk to the child's parent to let them know and they can speak to their worker. You will be asked to put your plans in writing.

Writing down your plans:

  • Write down your relationship to the child and where the child will live
  • Tell about who would take care of the child every day and where the child will go to school
  • Write down where the child would go to daycare or who the babysitter will be
  • List the names and birth dates of everyone who lives in your home
  • Put your phone number and email so that a worker can get in touch with you
  • Write about what you know of the child's situation and what they might need from you
  • Tell about how long you plan to care for the child how you could work with FACS

The Kinship Assessment

To be sure that your home is a safe place for the child to be, a Kinship Assessment Worker will meet with you. The worker will look at the safety of your home as well as your ability to meet the child's needs.

The Kinship Assessment includes a Home Safety Checklist and interviews. During the interviews, you will talk about things like: your relationship to the child and parents, the child's needs, your health and family history, any trouble with the law or problems keeping children safe in the past, your ability to add this child to your family and still give your family what they need.

Other documents

Each person living in your home who is 18 years old or older must have two checks.

  1. Police Record Check For Service with the Vulnerable Sector - This is a special check that is used when people want to work with children.
  2. Child Welfare Record Check - This lets your worker check to see if you have been involved with a Children's Aid Society before in other areas where you have lived.

Support

FACS does not reimburse Kinship Service families to care for children, but you can look here for help: