For funders and partners
53.8% of children in foster care in Canada are Indigenous. No standard existed to hold their providers accountable to Indigenous knowledge. IFISC changes that. Funding builds the standard.
53.8%
of children in foster care in Canada are Indigenous
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census
7.7%
of the child population is Indigenous — a 7x overrepresentation in care
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census
0
Indigenous-led accountability standards for child welfare providers existed before IFISC
KFT-Families Society, 2026
Child welfare providers caring for Indigenous children in Canada have never been held to an Indigenous-defined standard. Compliance frameworks measure state requirements. Nothing measures whether a provider is actually equipped to raise an Indigenous child — to preserve language, honour ceremony, support kinship, and keep family intact.
That absence has consequences. A 2026 study found that among children who experienced parental incarceration in five Canadian provinces, 30.5% had at least one Indigenous parent. The overrepresentation tracked by Statistics Canada has not reversed since 2016. Bill C-92, the TRC Calls to Action on child welfare, and the MMIWG Calls for Justice all point to the same structural gap: there is no common standard for what "safe" means when the child is Indigenous.
IFISC provides that standard. Funding develops it.
IFISC is a seven-pillar certification framework for child welfare providers. Pillars cover health and wellness, rights and legal accountability, Indigenous law and tradition, family and reunification, culture and identity, community and accountability, and crisis intervention. Each pillar contains measurable criteria authored by Indigenous practitioners.
Certification is granted to organizations, not individuals. It is renewable and tied to ongoing community accountability. A certified provider has been evaluated by Indigenous practitioners against Indigenous-defined benchmarks — and has met them.
Three overlapping policy frameworks make this the right moment for a national Indigenous-led certification standard:
2015
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's child welfare Calls to Action remain incomplete. Call 4 specifically requires provinces and territories to reduce the number of Indigenous children in care. A certification standard is the infrastructure that makes that reduction measurable.
2019
The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls identified child welfare as a direct pipeline to vulnerability. Calls 12.1 through 12.16 on child and family services remain among the slowest implemented.
2020
An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families recognizes the inherent right of Indigenous peoples to exercise jurisdiction over child welfare. Implementation requires Indigenous-defined standards. IFISC is that standard.
Standard development
Community consultations with knowledge holders, Elders, advocates, and families that define measurable criteria across all seven pillars. Every criterion begins with a consultation. Every consultation costs money.
$250 per consultation session
Pilot certifications
Full certification engagements with child welfare providers in British Columbia. The pilot phase proves the standard, identifies friction, and produces public ratings that demonstrate the model works at scale.
$5,000 per pilot engagement
National infrastructure
Legal, governance, and operations infrastructure required to run a credible national standard — including assessor training, certification registry development, and public accountability reporting.
Multi-year commitment preferred
KFT-Families Society was incorporated in British Columbia on March 10, 2026. Five of six directors are Indigenous. The board includes a child protection lawyer who has represented hundreds of parents in proceedings against BC's Ministry of Children and Family Development, a Sixties Scoop survivor, a Cree cultural facilitator and program developer, a support worker with lived experience in the foster policing system, and Lori Damon, who founded Keeping Families Together in 2019 and holds a graduate degree in Clinical Psychology.
Federal charitable registration is in progress. The Society is fully committed to financial transparency, publishing an annual report and, once registration is complete, annual T3010 filings on the CRA public registry.
Legal entity
BC Inc S0084831
Business number
79757 3177 BC0001
Incorporated
March 10, 2026
Indigenous directors
5 of 6
CRA charitable status
In progress
Jurisdiction
British Columbia, Canada
Contact for funding
For foundation grants, government program funding, multi-year commitments, sponsorships, or in-kind contributions, write directly to the Society. We respond within ten business days.
[email protected]Questions
Yes. As of 2026, no Indigenous-led accountability standard for child welfare providers existed anywhere in Canada before IFISC. Existing frameworks measure compliance with state-defined safety requirements. IFISC measures alignment with Indigenous family integrity, authored entirely by Indigenous practitioners.
IFISC certifies child welfare providers — foster care agencies, group homes, and residential care facilities — against a seven-pillar framework that measures cultural safety, family preservation, community accountability, legal rights awareness, data sovereignty, workforce development, and transition support. Certification is ongoing, not a one-time credential.
Bill C-92 (An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, 2020) recognizes the inherent right of Indigenous communities to exercise jurisdiction over child welfare. Implementation requires usable, community-defined standards. IFISC provides exactly that: a measurable, Indigenous-authored framework that governments, nations, and courts can reference in procurement decisions and placement proceedings.
KFT-Families Society is governed by a board of six directors, five of whom are Indigenous. Directors serve voluntarily. The board includes a lawyer with extensive child protection experience, a Sixties Scoop survivor, a Cree cultural facilitator and program developer, a social media and brand director with lived experience in the foster policing system, and the founder of the Keeping Families Together peer support program. Decisions require board approval. Annual reports are published.
KFT-Families Society is a British Columbia nonprofit society incorporated March 10, 2026 (Inc S0084831, BN 79757 3177 BC0001). Federal charitable registration with the Canada Revenue Agency is in progress. Foundations and government funders working with pre-registration nonprofits are welcome to contact us directly to discuss grant structures.
IFISC is built as a national standard. Certification is available to child welfare providers serving Indigenous families across Canada. KFT-Families Society is based in British Columbia, and initial pilots are targeted at BC providers. The framework is designed to scale province by province in partnership with Indigenous governing bodies.
At the current stage, funding enables: development and publication of pillar criteria; community consultations with knowledge holders, advocates, and affected families; pilot certification engagements with providers; and the legal and operational infrastructure required to run a credible national standard. Every consultation that shapes the criteria is funded from direct donations and grants.
Write to [email protected]. Include your organization, funding interest, and any relevant timelines. KFT-Families Society responds within ten business days. For foundation grants, government grants, multi-year commitments, or in-kind contributions, direct inquiries are preferred over general donation portals.