Ayás Mén̓men
Child & Family Services

The philosophy of Ayás Mén̓men is to enhance the lives of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh children, their families, and the community by providing a caring, supportive, and vital community service. We walk alongside families in their journey, providing restorative, holistic, and culturally-grounded family services.

Ayás Mén̓men equips children, youth, and families with life skills, supports, education, and training to be able to live a healthy life and to walk with guidance, confidence, support, and identity in the life they choose. Through a safe, fun, holistic, and cultural approach, our goal is to ensure that every child has safety, protection, security, love, guidance, spirituality, healing, and respect in their lives.

In support of the long-term objective to create a generational shift towards wellness defined by Sḵwx̱wú7mesh values, Ayás Mén̓men offers holistic supports for prenatal, early years, youth, families, and community. The department supports family capacity-building to help families take responsibility to care for each other,  assists families with advocacy, emotional support through crisis, and prevention so that Nation Members are able to support and empower one another.

Ayás Mén̓men could be interpreted as ‘peace to our children’, which reflects a fundamental element of our mandate and vision. The name was given to us by our Elders in 1993.

Permanency & Safety

Ayás Mén̓men provides Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw with delegated child and family services (Family Support Services, Guardianship Services, and Resource Care Homes) pursuant to the British Columbia Child, Family and Community Service Act. Our agency is in compliance with provincial standards.

The team provides assistance to families in areas of advocacy, emotional support during crises, and prevention. They assist families in setting and attaining personal goals. The team’s overarching objective is to deliver culturally and community-centered services that prioritize the best interests and rights of the children. These services are provided in an environment that ensures their safety and security, enabling them to reach their full potential as healthy, capable, and well-adjusted individuals who take pride in their identity as members of their Nation. These goals are accomplished within a strong and supportive family and community context.

The ultimate aim for the social workers is to facilitate the creation of self-sustaining families through collaborative efforts involving their family members, our team, and support services. This process empowers Nation families to provide mutual support and empowerment to one another.

Ayás Mén̓men social workers accompany our Members to offer support and clarification throughout the process. Social workers are available every day to address questions and respond to concerns regarding services for Members.

Family Care Homes for Ayás Mén̓men children in care are recruited, assessed, established, and assisted by the resource workers.