Nunavut accepted all seven recommendations and says more foster homes now have completed studies and background checks

IQALUIT — NATIONAL NEWS Service – Nunavut’s Department of Family Services could not show that required monthly visits took place in more than 90 per cent of the foster-care files examined by the federal auditor general, leaving the department without reliable proof that children were safe and supported.

The audit, tabled in the Nunavut legislature on Tuesday, found five cases with no documented contact with a child for more than a year. One gap lasted more than 17 months.

The findings concern a small and highly vulnerable group of children. The report does not identify them, and no identifying details should be published.

Home checks and records fell short

Auditors found that required home studies were completed before a child was placed in only 52 per cent of the cases reviewed. Annual reviews of foster homes were missing or incomplete in 62 per cent of the cases.

Caregivers lacked important health, family or trauma information in 32 of 44 child files examined. Some new caregivers waited between 37 and 415 days before regular payments began, and the department’s caregiver manual had not been updated in more than 10 years.

The department also lacked a single reliable electronic record of how many children were in care and where they were living. The auditor said manually compiled lists weakened safety oversight and service planning.

Territory accepts recommendations

The Nunavut government accepted all seven recommendations. Family Services Minister Gwen Healey Akearok said the territory is improving oversight, staff tools, caregiver training and support for kinship care so children can remain closer to home and community.

The department said conditions improved after the audit period, which ran from Nov. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2026. As of Oct. 27, it reported completed home studies for 97 per cent of Nunavut’s 159 active foster homes and vulnerable-sector checks completed within standard timelines for 82 per cent.

Foster-care rates also rose 45 per cent, retroactive to April 1. Those later figures were reported by the department and were not part of the auditor’s tested sample.

The core test will be whether the territory can document regular contact with every child, maintain current home checks and build a dependable case-management system. The audit’s percentages describe the files examined and should not be presented as a count of all children in Nunavut foster care.