Alisha, advocate and former youth in care
Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is our country’s leading charity dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth and families involved in the child welfare system.
We raise and grant funds and develop high-impact programs that are delivered in partnership with 114 child- and youth-serving agencies across the country.
With the support of our donors and partners, we help children and youth involved with the child welfare system access the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.
In the late 1970s, Canada’s largest child welfare agency –– the Children’s Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto –– identified an urgent need to bring focus to its fundraising efforts as it grappled with a challenging economic environment and reduced government funding.
Its solution was to create the Children’s Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto Foundation in 1979, a fundraising initiative with a goal to secure private support for programs focused on preventing child abuse and reducing the number of children coming into government care.
Over the years, the funds raised through the Foundation enabled the design, testing, launch and evaluation of numerous programs and innovative initiatives supporting children, young people, and families involved with the child welfare system.
In the 1990s, the Foundation became a fully independent entity with a new Board of Directors and a renewed mandate. And in 2017, we became a national charity known as Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada –– our country’s leading charity dedicated to serving children, youth and families nationwide.
We now support young people in partnership with 114 child- and youth-serving agencies across Canada, and our relationship with our founding partner –– now known as Children’s Aid Society of Toronto –– remains strong.
Together with the generosity of our donors and supporters, we look forward to continuing to build a better, stronger Canada –– one child at a time.
Our vision is a future where the children and youth we serve have the strength and resilience to create a lifetime of their own unstoppable successes.
We’re dedicated to empowering children and youth to realize brighter futures through our five ‘VOICE’ values:
Vital Learning and Innovation – Trying new things, creating space and time for creativity and professional development, showing humility, cross-team collaboration, and being intentional about change.
Open Communication – Showing respect for others’ ideas and different ways of communicating, creating safe spaces, encouraging participation, building a pervasive practice of giving and receiving feedback, and active listening.
Inclusion and Diversity – Being welcoming, building a diverse team that represents those we serve, showing respect and appreciation of boundaries, seeking diverse perspectives, and adopting an equity and fairness lens.
Care and Compassion – Exercising self-care, empathy for others, showing compassion for our cause and purpose, respecting and encouraging work-life balance.
Empowering Accountability – Taking the initiative to improve and optimize, transparency and sharing information, clarifying expectations, tracking goals, and communicating them.
“I struggled with feeling different than everybody. I knew I had problems, and I felt like there was something wrong with me. I wondered why my life had to turn out the way it did and why everybody else’s seemed normal. They would go home to their family. They had moms, they had dads, and I didn’t have that because I didn’t grow up with my biological mom, and I grew up with my dad but he was absent. My biggest challenge was just feeling different and feeling like that wasn’t normal.”
Read Jodene's story
From donating to volunteering, learn more about the different ways you can help make a difference for children and youth in and from care.
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