Taking Care of Our Own
What
We do
Meeting the needs of children is our main priority and everyone involved in the process must act in the best interests of the child. All children are seen and valued as gifts. We envision reclaiming our inherent right to provide a service imbedded in Haudenosaunee culture that ensures the safety, preservation and protection of all children.
Code of Practice:
1. Promote and understand Haudenosaunnee and other Ongwehonweh (Indigenous) world views.
2. Recognize 0gwadeni:deo's core values and principles.
3.Commitment and support - make a commitment to support
Owadeni:deo's ethics and code of practice.
4. Adhere to appropriate laws and regulations.
5. Understand the diversity of Haudenosaunnee and other Ongwehonweh families living on reserve and off reserve.
6. Promote a positive and ethical work
environment.
7. Avoid conflict of interests.
8. Act ethically.
DUTY TO RESPOND
Ogwadeni:deo has a team that conducts investigations to verify child protection concerns to determine if the child requires protection. This team gathers as much information as possible in order to evaluate and assess the concern.
PREVENTION AND REUNIFICATION
Ogwadeni:deo has a team that works directly with children and another team that works with the children’s biological family. These teams work simultaneously to effectively mitigate child protection concerns and promote reunification. We understand the importance of children staying with families/kin, within community to sustain our culture and traditions amongst our youth.
RESOURCES
When a child needs to be placed in care for the best interest of their safety, our Alternative Care Team will assist in placing the child in a designated place of safety. This home may be an existing home that our agency utilizes or it could be a member of the child’s family willing to take them in.
Our Alternative Care Resource team recruits people to become Community Care Leaders (volunteers) for drives, supervise family access visits, respite care, and resource homes. They provide the Community Care Leaders with training, supervision and on-going support as needed designed to respond to our children, families and community in a culturally responsive manner.
Ogwadeni:deo is the first Indigenous Child Welfare Agency that offers its clients internal medical services. Our medical team is staffed with a Registered Nurse and Nurse Practitioner.
The medical team provides internal consultations to our team, this ranges from conducting medical assessments, reviews, and referrals, as well as the ability to build a life long therapeutic relationship with our clients, even after no longer requiring Ogwadeni:deo services.