At the Children’s Aid Society of Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry (CASSDG), we believe that every child and youth deserves to grow up in a safe, nurturing, and supportive environment where they feel they belong.
When families experience challenges that impact their ability to care safely for their children, our first goal is to support them at home. We work closely with parents, caregivers, and community partners to address issues such as stress, mental health, addiction, housing, or relationship challenges.
When a child cannot remain safely at home, we first explore care within their extended family, kin, or community — people they already know and trust. When this is not possible, children may come into the temporary care of CASSDG, where foster caregivers provide safe, stable, and caring homes while families work toward healing and reunification.
When a family becomes involved with a Children’s Aid Society, every effort is made to support the family to ensure children can live safely at home. If a child cannot remain safely with their parents, we first look to extended family, kin, or trusted community members. When this is not possible, children may come into the temporary care of CASSDG, where foster parents provide a safe, family-based home until children can return to their families.
Foster care provides children and youth with a nurturing and stable environment during times of crisis. It also gives parents the time and opportunity to address challenges that may have affected their ability to care for their children safely.
In most situations, children in foster care are reunified with their families once the issues that led to their placement have been resolved, with the support of CASSDG and community partners.
In other cases, foster care may become a step toward permanency and long-term wellbeing, such as adoption or legal custody with a relative.
Children may need foster care for just a few days, several months, or longer. Foster parents work closely with CASSDG staff as part of a team to develop and support a plan of care for each child or youth. The preferred plan is always reunification, but alternative permanency options—such as kinship care, legal custody, independent living, or adoption—are explored as needed.
The Role of Foster Parents
Who Can Be a Foster Parent?
Foster parents come from diverse backgrounds. They may be single, married, or in common-law relationships, with or without children of their own. We welcome foster parents of all ages, cultural identities, faiths, and family structures. A diverse community of caregivers ensures that children and youth can see themselves reflected in the homes that care for them.
Becoming a Foster Parent
- PRIDE Pre-Service Training: A mandatory 27-hour course for foster, kinship, and adoptive applicants.
- SAFE Home Study Process: A structured evaluation that assesses suitability, strengths, and preparedness for fostering.