For Some, Noel Is About Cash; For
Others, A Crèche
By Lorna Dueck
Friday, December 23, 2005
Page A21
From The Globe and Mail
Who would have thought I could grow out of touch with children so fast ?
It's not even Christmas and I've been sent to the returns aisle because
gifts I've bought for visiting kids don't cut it. "Just give cash,"
warned my own emerging adults as they grinched their way through my
shopping efforts, kindly scorning my intentions and telling me I don't
know what other people's kids need.
Stretch that to a seasonal metaphor for how Canada is transitioning
from hands-on care to a cash machine for children. We've spent billions
of dollars in "gift cards" for children we're woefully out of touch
with. There are 300,000 in our nation who the Children's Aid Foundation
says are at "high risk of abuse and neglect."
In Ontario alone, Children's Aid Societies spent $1.1-billion on a
variety of services for children whose parents are unable to offer
adequate care, a 56-per-cent increase in expenditures in less than five
years. Last year, substitute care was provided for 30,423 Ontario
children, but only 8,000 foster parent homes were available.
What do CAS agencies across the country really need? More good homes.
The agencies that cover Toronto are asking for at least 1,200 foster
families, says Chris MacPhee, a director of CAS residential services.
The need is for both our growing social ills, and diversity to meet
spiritual and cultural needs.
Complain all you want about separating church and state, but this
crisis needs help from on high. A spark that began with Jewish Family
and Child Service's motto "One shul, two homes" has inspired agencies
to market to synagogues, temples, mosques and churches. The result
includes the launch of "Let a Child Have Faith in You" -- a blend of
government agency and faith community. The brochures, funded by an
anonymous volunteer, remind you that God and kids have an affinity.
(The Guardian recently reported that children under 10 ranked God as
the most famous being; soccer star Wayne Rooney was second and Jesus
third.) "Faith-based homes are a good approach for us. . . . It's just
that we need way, way more homes to choose from to match the needs of
children," says Melanie Persaud of CAS Toronto.
That gets a hearty amen from John and Liane Niles, a Markham, Ont.,
family that has taken in more than 1,000 kids in the past 20 years. In
August, they accepted 17. So far, December has seen five children
arrive at their "front-line call home" (a place where police bring
children to their door).
"Children are coming in worse shape, just brutalized, broken bones and
beatings, and people are burning out on the emergency side of this,"
says Mr. Niles, a United Church minister. "We once took a two-week
break, but, by the end of it, we were called back because things were
just falling apart."
He says Canadians need more confidence to know they are capable of
creating soft places for children to land. Despite seeing the worst of
cases, Mr. Niles's stories are just as warm as testimonials on homesforkids.com
that feature "regular" foster parents. His new book, How I Became
Father to 1,000 Children and the Lessons Learned, is both tender and
tough, including harsh words for our courts, which, he says, can be
"blinded by a cloak of sympathy to what true justice is." He thinks
faith communities haven't entered into enough fostering because they
see ministry as something done outside, rather than inside, Canada.
The Niles's own five children created the concept of Kits for Kids on a
Christmas Eve when a teenager arrived at their door with nothing of her
own. They've since packaged more than 2,500 care packages with
age-appropriate comforts (from teddy bears to tooth brushes) for
displaced Canadian kids.
At Christmas, their home has a crèche. Mr. Niles recalls how
a young ward we'll call Nelson took a liking to the nativity set and
kept
playing with it, putting the baby Jesus in his pocket, walking about,
then carefully putting it back. When Nelson left their home, the family
could no longer find the baby in the manger. "Daddy, I think Nelson
took Jesus with him," said one of the Niles children. "I do hope he
did," said the reverend. Not a bad gift for our most vulnerable
children, who face a long road ahead.
Lorna Dueck hosts
"Longing for Belonging" Christmas morning on Listen Up on Global TV
Pacific 1:30
am Monday
Mountain 2:30am
Central 3:30am
Eastern 4:30am
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB)
Eastern 8pm Monday
10:30am Wednesday
DVD's of all our shows are available for sale. To place an order, please call (905) 336 9777 x27. Copies are $15.00 which includes shipping. Payment can be made by cheque (made payable to Listen Up TV); VISA or Mastercard.
Read Lorna's Globe & Mail columns by searching
our archive.
Read 'Media & The Message'. Lorna says if the church wants to impact society, we need to share our stories.
On April 30, 2005 Lorna was privileged to receive an honorary Doctorate of Christian Ministries from Canada's largest Christian university, Trinity Western University. Lorna was recognized for the witness and leadership that Listen Up TV has provided in public messaging: "a leader in the voice of evangelical life in Canada."
