Mercy Mission Canada has launched a new project aimed at encouraging more Muslim Canadians to become foster parents.

The project is called FosterLink.

Muslim Link interviewed the project’s founder Shahzad Mustafa about the initiative.

Muslim Family Services of Ottawa (MFSO) in partnership with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) and CAS Friends is once again hoping to raise funds from local Muslims for their annual Eid al Adha Lamb Project.

Ahmed Hashim Ullah is a Rohingya refugee living in Kitchener-Waterloo. He and a number of other Rohingya refugee youth worked with Yusuf Zine to develop the play I Am Rohingya. They are successfully crowdfunded to raise enough funds to develop the story behind the making of the play into a documentary.

Somali Canadian Abdirizak Mohamud has been a foster parent with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa for over 10 years, during which time he has fostered over 15 children. The majority of these children have been from Muslim backgrounds. Muslim Link interviewed Abdirizak about his experience as a foster parent and why more Muslim foster parents are needed in Ottawa.

Muslim Family Services of Ottawa (MFSO) is working with the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa (CAS) to implement the Shared Journeys project which aims to improve communication and collaboration between CAS and Ottawa's Muslim communities.

The impetus for the project arises from the work of the Muslim Resource Centre for Social Support and Integration (MRCSSI) of London, Ontario which has worked with that city's CAS to dramatically reduce the number of Muslim children who are taken into care. MRCSSI received $285,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and another $70,000 from the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General in order to expand the project to York, Kingston, and Ottawa.