Abstract

Children

Idris Osman Madar

Our children are our future, they deserve every opportunity to lead productive lives. There are many services that are available for all children, child safety, education, sports, arts and recreation. All these things contribute to raising a successful child.

As parents, we have the ability to make the biggest impact in our child's life, this is a privilege as well as a full time job. It is our duty to open doors and give opportunities to our children. We must be aware of problems such as poor academic records and expulsion from schools. Some of these are caused by a gross misunderstanding of cultural differences, and the poor interaction with teachers and staff in the school system, this is caused by Somali parents not understanding their need to display a proactive role in the education system.

When teachers have a problem with our children, they do not hesitate to call in the Children's Aid, particularly if the family is on welfare. More advocacy programs with the school system need to be established on behalf of our community. The Somaliy Famiy and Child Skills Development Services, as the name implies, serves the interests of all the Somali Community in GTA, and enjoys a good relationship with other service providers. The Somali and Child Skills Development Serviceshas a good rapport with the Children's Aid Society and works with them to bridge the barriers between the Somali community and to ease the tension between the two groups.

The Somali Family and Child Skills Development Services has a history of working with families and children. We obtain signed permission forms from parents before we commence working. When we have decided on a plan of action, we talk the matter over with the parents before approaching Children Aid’s Society. Our agency has been funded by the provincial government, we understand the laws in this country governing the family. We have served our people by providing translators for the government and other public sector groups also non-profit agencies when we have been requested to do so.

The Somali family and Child Skills Development Services understands the needs of the Somali people in Toronto. We are the partners of group for 12 other agencies, and work with them in partnership to satisfy our community. For the last two and one half years partnership projects in place have made many significant changes, which have positively affected the lives of our clients. Many of our clients have chosen to settle in the GTA, because of the following reasons:

a) Toronto is a city for employment and educational opportunities
b) It is a city that is integrated with a wide variety of people from the entire world
c) Thousands of Somali people live here, as a result there is a great deal of fellowship and support among our people.

The majority of Somalis are low income families who are TTC users. They need to access services provided by the three levels of Government of Canada, in order to survive. Our clients face many challenges regarding their children. They have never seen or heard of organizations like the Children's Aid Society before they came to Canada. They understand the difficulty of situations in the schools systems, shelters and hospitals whom they regard as spy agencies. Our clients mainly come to our office when they are in need of help of protection from the Children’s Aid Society, with whom we work to provide explanations, and translations when these problems occur as most of these families are unable to communicate correctly with the court system and authority figures. We also arrange Legal Aid for them, if they need representation by a lawyer.

More then 600 Somalis listen my radio show which only targets the topics of child protection, education, good parenting programs, foster care issues, social services and health. This radio show is a powerful tool to communicate with Somalis, every Saturday evening at 8:45 pm. I have also written a six page booklet in the Somali language on Foster Care aiming to give good picture to the Somali community.

The Somali Family and Child Skills Development Services has conducted 5 different orkshops in Regent Park and Centres where English as a second languages class are taught.A tailoring class for single mothers and women in the community takes place to teach sewing skills for women to help them become independent people.

Evaluations and feedback from these efforts have been very encouraging. All seminars are intended for educational purposes and in the coming weeks, we have booked 5 more seminars aiming at teaching family laws and child protection, with the inclusion of home care and foster parents.

Bio

Mr. Idris Osman Madar

Educational background:

• B.A in Social Sciences
• B.A in Arts ans science
• Diploma of Management
• Diploma of Teaching
• Diploma of basic Comupters

Work Experiences :

• Teacher for so many Years in African Schools
• School principal in Somalia
• Superintend of schools in Somalia
• Director of Labor Department , Ministry of Labor
• Community Leader in Toronto

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