SUPPORTING THE SOMALI COMMUNITY ONE CHILD AT A TIME

When you speak with Abdirizak Mohamud, one thing comes across quite clearly: he’s dedicated to supporting his community. He has always had a deep sense of community pride and responsibility. Born in Somalia, Mohamud arrived in Canada at 21 years of age. He immediately became involved with Ottawa’s Somali community, always looking for opportunities to help his neighbors.

Several years after his arrival, Mohamud saw a particular need within his community that stood out to him.

“There was a situation where a family in my community had eight children at risk of being taken from their home,” he explains. “There were conversations amongst the Somali and Muslim communities around what was going to happen to these children, but there seemed to be less discussion around what could actually be done to support this family.”

With a background in social services and experience dealing with families suffering from financial and housing-related challenges, Mohamud found himself instantly seeking ways in which he could help. This is where his journey as a foster parent began.

“That particular case prompted me to look into fostering. I thought to myself, maybe we should look into becoming foster parents so that these children can have homes that share their culture and religion.”

Mohamud and his wife had heard about foster homes, but they weren’t sure what exactly that entailed.

“My wife and I went to an info session at the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa to get more information on how we could help. We felt that something needed to be done. We then proceeded to complete the foster parent application.”

The process to become a foster parent can be long, but the Mohamuds saw it as a means to an end.

Ten years later, the Mohamud family has cared for over a dozen children and youth. While their original desire to support families within their Somali community remains at the forefront of the work that they do as foster parents, they’ve since cared for children from various cultural and religious backgrounds. This has proven to be a true learning experience.

“We’ve learnt how to care for children from different backgrounds and learn from that experience.”

Mohamud recognizes that maintaining a child’s cultural and religious values is a responsibility that foster parents take on, along with all the other basic necessities. Ideally, children and youth would always be placed in the care of families who share their cultural background, but the limited cultural diversity of foster parents in Ottawa makes that hard to do.

On his journey to becoming a foster parent, Mohamud saw firsthand the hesitation that many community members felt towards the concept of fostering. “Other people in the community were asking us, “Why would you want to do that?” Immigrant families definitely didn’t want CASO coming in to their homes on a regular basis.”

However, it quickly became clear that there was a need for more diverse foster parents within the Ottawa community. In his own experiences, he recognized that the collaboration between foster parents and birth families, amongst other things, was much more successful when they shared the same cultural background.

“It makes it easier to work together with the birth parents when they know their children are staying with a family of the same culture. They’re eating the same food, practicing the same traditions… This usually results in less boundaries working with the birth parents, and better outcomes overall.”

Since becoming a foster parent, Mohamud has taken on the additional responsibility of recruiting individuals who may be interested in opening their homes to children and youth. Within the past four years, he has participated in a number of recruitment drives in the community to expose diverse individuals to the benefits and rewards of fostering.

He has also become a key figure in the Somali community for all things surrounding child welfare.

“I’ve been able to share some of the knowledge I’ve gained as a foster parent with my community,” Mohamud explains. “I often get calls from the local mosque with questions relating to my experience, asking me for insight.”

“Most of the time, I can only provide them with basic information, but I can also refer them to services. Being identified as someone who can help within the community has been very rewarding for me.”

It becomes clear, the rewards outweigh the challenges. This is one of the key messages relayed by Mohamud to members of his community.

“I urge people to look at all the joys that come from opening up your home and becoming a foster parent. If they are flexible and have the time, this could be a great choice for them…”

“But above all, I want the community to understand that this is a responsibility that we have. We need to stand up for our children.” 

Post Script: If you’re interested in learning more about fostering, contact the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa at www.casott.on.ca or 613-742-1620 ext. 1.