Innovative financing to keep mothers and children together
In virtually all cases, forcibly removing children from the family home because of child welfare concerns causes trauma to the child and the parent. To find an alternative solution to taking children into care, EGADZ Saskatoon Downtown Youth Center, community-minded investors and the Gov’t of Saskatchewan came together to create Sweet Dreams, using an innovative financing tool – a social impact bond – a first for Canada. Sweet Dreams provides a supported living environment where the family is kept intact, and mothers are provided the tools needed to safely parent their children in the short, medium and long term. In the past five years, 53 out of 54 children remain with their Mom.
Sweet Dreams is represented by June Draude, Eric Dillon, Walter Mah, and Donald Meikle.
For a better understanding of Sweet Dreams, please see the introductory video presented during the 2019 Governor General’s Innovation Awards ceremony:
