Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I had an opportunity to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions regarding foster parents, and I have some follow-up questions for him today. Mr. Speaker, I believe that people who open their homes for our youth are amazing and kind-hearted people. How does the Department and the NWT Health and Social Services Authority show appreciation to the foster parents annually? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Foster parents make a significant difference in the lives of children and youth, and their efforts and commitment really needs to be recognized and supported and celebrated. Mr. Speaker, we do do that as a government, and we do support the Foster Family Coalition, who takes significant efforts to do this, as well.
Mr. Speaker, each year we take time to celebrate the important contributions that foster families make in the lives of children and youth within the Northwest Territories. For example, over the years, there have been a variety of events to help honour and celebrate the foster families in individual communities, led by regional offices in those communities. Each community and region often has its own way of celebrating. In some regions, they host breakfast. They have dinners or lunches. They provide small gifts of gratitude. The Foster Family Coalition has been really fantastic in supporting the foster families, and they help us by actually getting letters out to the foster families thanking them for their service across the Northwest Territories.
They also host a number of different functions throughout the year. I have had the honour of attending a couple of different dinners and events that the foster family coalition has put on for foster families, where I have had the opportunity to thank foster families directly for all that they do. We also take every opportunity like this to really thank the foster families throughout the Northwest Territories for their incredible work. There are a lot of different things we do. There is not one set program of gratitude or acknowledgement, but we take every opportunity and we work with the foster family coalition, who is really the lead on this, and we support them in their efforts to congratulate and thank our foster families, as well.
That is great to hear. Again, I am looking at the territories and trying to see how we help recognize our foster parents, and it's great that a coalition does that, but sometimes the coalition does not exist in some of these smaller communities, that I am aware of. Has the department looked at recognizing these foster parents, especially on Mother's Day, Father's Day, like even a small gift like a box of chocolates or a card?
The Foster Family Coalition of the Northwest Territories is a territorial NGO, and they reach out to all communities throughout the Northwest Territories. We have not targeted something like Mother's Day or Father's Day. We have actually targeted our formal appreciation of foster parents to communicate in other activities actually centred around Foster Family Week. There is actually a national week set up for this, so we do that rather than looking at Mother's Day or Father's Day.
The celebration of foster caregivers occurs both at a national and a territorial level every year. We know that we need to look at further opportunities, Mr. Speaker, and we recognize and appreciate everything that foster parents do. We will certain work with the faster family coalition to find ways to better support them. There are lots of opportunities for us to do this. We have a good relationship with the foster family coalition, and we will certainly continue to have dialogue around this issue to make sure that our foster families are really getting the support and appreciation that they deserve.
I appreciate the response from the Minister. Again, Mother's Day, Father's Day, just a small appreciation for the great work that these folks do, and, again, I think they are the most amazing people. They open their own homes to look after our youth in difficult times. Does the department budget for such activities in their yearly budget? When you talk about the coalition, do we give them money to help them provide this kind of service?
There is not a budget line referred to as "foster family appreciation" or "foster family gratitude," but there is specific budget within each of the regional offices of the territorial authority specific for supporting foster families, Foster Family Coalition. Within those budgets, the three authorities and the regional operations are able to support foster care appreciation activities and initiatives. So, although there is not a specific line, the dollars that they have available can be and are used to provide appreciation and gratitude to those who are doing this incredibly important work throughout the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I would like to thank the Minister for his answers here today. I guess I am trying to understand the budgeting process and getting it out there, so can the Minister provide us information on how much money is allocated for foster caring, maybe not here today but provide it to us later on so that we can have a better understanding of the money that is put into this? Because, if we see a shortfall in it, then maybe it's something that we need to look at to help improve our foster cares out there.
As the Member knows, any time that any of the departments wish to put additional money into any of our programs and services, we have to build a business case that has evidence to suggest that it's necessary. We are always looking at our programs to see if more money is needed. To that end, we actually did significantly increase the allocation for families through the Foster Family Care Program. The per diems increased significantly about a year and a half ago. That information was brought forward in this Assembly. It was discussed. I cannot remember off the top of my head what the budget is for foster families is here in the Northwest Territories, but I will commit to getting the Member that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
