Our Guest Speaker: Victor Santiago
Victor Santiago is a Venezuelan Canadian who came to Canada at the age of 3. He studied biology at the University of Guelph as well as Public Relations at Conestoga College. He has worked at the Public Health Agency of Canada as well as in the Netherlands for an animal genetics company, where he specialized in cross-cultural communications. Currently he is the Community Engagement & Family Recruitment Worker for Family & Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region. His role focuses on establishing positive relationships between the agency and the local community with a focus on bringing in a caring diverse pool of volunteers & care providers to the agency.
Mandate of the Family & Children's Services of Waterloo Region
A non-profit community agency
Responsible to strengthen and support families in our community
Legislated under the Child, Youth & Family Services Act (as well as a federal Act) to keep children, ages 0-18, safe from abuse and neglect
Services for youth 18-21
Role in our community
A focus on preventative services
Addressing over-representations in care
Family First Approach
Ensure legislated standards are met
Work with families in the least intrusive manner possible
Statistics
7,526 Calls related to Child Protection concerns
1,987 Investigations
211 Children in care (Yearly Average)
138 Kinship Service homes (Yearly Average)
93 Foster homes (Yearly Average)
30% of youth (Ontario Average) in care identify as 2SLGBTQIA