Grant: Catalyst Grant: Partnering for Impact - Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research

Children, youth and families that interact with the child welfare (foster care) system are known to have poorer health than those that do not. Unfortunately, we do not have much research to help us understand how to prevent these health challenges. We have been working for the past 4 years with families that have experienced the child welfare system. This has led to the creation of a peer advocacy project with a name gifted by the Squamish Nation - K'emk'emeláy K'xwu7lh - which means "Vancouver Canoe". We have also brought together 15 organizations that support families that have experience with the child welfare system in a project called Braiding Wisdoms. For this proposal, we want to bring together the K'emk'emeláy K'xwu7lh and Braiding Wisdoms projects. We will start by building relationships between the peer advocates and organization members by gathering together in person and participating in cultural activities and ceremony together. Then, we will work together to create a list of research ideas that people from the community think will have the most benefit to improve health for families that experience the child welfare system. Finally, we will train 6 members from the K'emk'emeláy K'xwu7lh project to act as community-based researchers, as well as providing resources for each of these members to complete a community-based project of their choosing alongside one of the Braiding Wisdoms organizations. Together, we will use the metaphor of a canoe to help us understand how we can all work together to move the health of families impacted by the child welfare system in a positive direction.