The best place for a child is with their family, but parents with high needs kids get exhausted. As a Kinnections’ Overnight Caregiver (Host Home), you open your home to kids who need extra support. Maybe for a weekend or maybe just one night, you give their families a break to help them be as strong as possible. You can be the difference between a kid staying with their family or having to move to an out-of-home placement.
As a host home provider, you:
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Are warm and supportive, and believe you could help a child in need
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Are optimistic and positive in your approach to problems
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Are comfortable working with complex family systems
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Are a strong and practical communicator
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Are willing to support a child’s culture and spiritual beliefs
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Are able and willing to attend lots of training to increase your skills
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Are willing to work hard as a team member with an excellent company
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Are willing to go the extra mile to make a child’s life better
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Are willing to work with both the child and the child’s family
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Are open to learning how to raise children with no physical punishment
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Are keen to learn about different ways to positively manage children’s behavior
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Understand that children in care have experienced trauma, and can be patient with them
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Have a clean and welcoming home, with a private bedroom and enough space
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Have some experience in a caregiver role, either supervising or raising children
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Have a reasonably flexible schedule to allow for kid-related meetings and appointments
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Have a stable family and haven’t experienced any big changes over the last year
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Are single, a couple, stay-at-home or working outside the home
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Have a reliable income that doesn’t depend on this income to meet your financial needs
Requirements to be a host home provider:
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Be a Canadian citizen/permanent resident status and entitled to work in Canada
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Be a mature adult
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Have adequate space in the home for another child, including a separate bedroom
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Be able to communicate fluently in verbal and written English
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Have a valid driver’s license
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Rent or own a residence that meets Children’s Services standards re cleanliness and repair
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Provide a Criminal Record Check, Child Intervention Record Check, and a Driver’s Abstract
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Have Child & Youth Care education and/or experience (not mandatory, but helpful)
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Have compassion and respect for youth with mental illness
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Have patience. Lots of patience.