In September of 2015 the International Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities announced that Carrier Sekani Family Services achieved three-year accreditation, the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization. For over 25 years Carrier Sekani Family Services has provided child welfare, health, and legal services to First Nations persons living in the Prince George, Vanderhoof, and Burns Lake areas, both off and on reserve. CSFS started as a grass roots organization in 1990 tasked with providing front line services to improve overall health and wellness for Carrier and Sekani First Nations people. Our staff numbers have grown from a small group of 3 to over 160 employees today who provide a myriad of holistic health and wellness services across sectors.
Carrier Sekani Family Services is proud to offer holistic health and wellness programming to our community members. Our Health department provides adult and youth clinical counselling, addictions treatment, early childhood development, occupational health and diabetes prevention education. With the formation of the First Nations Health Authority we are able to offer Primary Care Physician services, to work in conjunction with our community nurses. Our Child and Family Services Department ensures the safety and wellbeing of our Carrier and Sekani children in permanent care of the Ministry for Children and Families. We also provide First Nations foster homes, legal mediation, family support, holistic wellness education, youth programming, violence prevention, and employment programming. Our agency takes direct responsibility for ensuring that research conducted in our community’s reflects their needs through our Research department. All of our services are proudly offered combining traditional and culturally relevant methods with the best in evidence-based practice.
In December of 2015 the Ministry of Child & Family Development congratulated CSFS on becoming the first Delegated Aboriginal Agency in BC to achieve accreditation. Currently there are 22 Delegated Aboriginal Agencies within BC who, under MCFD, provide various levels of guardianship, foster care, voluntary services, and full child protection services to Aboriginal children in care. As MCFD does not require Delegated Aboriginal Agencies to be accredited, CSFS voluntarily partook in the extensive accreditation process with great success. Accreditation assures CSFS’ stakeholders and clients that the organization is dedicated to international levels of accountability and quality improvement across all of our programs and services.