(Facebool/ Beauval Recreation Board)

By Nigel Maxwell

Youth resources

Youth group home approved for Beauval

Jul 5, 2022 | 11:52 AM

A new facility that will help provide safe shelter and resources for vulnerable youth in the north has officially received the green light.

The Government of Saskatchewan is partnering on the initiative with the Northern Village of Beauval. Originally opened during the pandemic to provide isolation spaces for children with COVID-19, this five-space, Short-term Community-based Home (STCBH) will provide resources for children under 12.

An STCBH offers an immediate placement option for children who cannot remain safely at home while their parents address safety concerns or a longer-term family-based care option is identified, whether that be extended family, a trusted family connection or foster care.

“Access to culture, traditional teachings and ceremonies has been linked to better outcomes, which is why we are working to increase placement options in northern Saskatchewan so children entering care can remain in their home community wherever possible,” Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky said in a statement. “Community placement allows children to be supported by their communities, within their own customs and cultural traditions, to remain in their school and have regular visitation with their parents.”

While a child is in care, the ministry’s goal then becomes reunification, providing and linking parents to services and tools on parenting, addictions, counseling, and domestic violence prevention. If a child can’t remain safely at home, the government then looks to extended family. Nearly 60 -per-cent of children residing in out-of-home care live with extended family.

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This is the second STCBH in Beauval. The Northern Village of Beauval opened its first five-space STCBH in November 2019, which has been consistently at or near capacity. While children placed in these homes are not always from Beauval, they are much closer to their home communities than if they are placed in Regina or Saskatoon.

“This is a great opportunity for local people to become employed in an area where we are able to keep northern children in the north where our culture, traditions and kinship run deep even between communities,” Northern Village of Beauval Mayor Nick Daigneault said in a statement. “We are proud to be able to develop the northern model of partnership between the ministry and municipality to provide this much needed service to the north.”

The Government of Saskatchewan has allocated approximately $728,000 in annualized funding in 2022-23 for the new STCBH. This brings the total annualized funding for these group homes in Beauval to more than $1.4 million.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell