Former child in care working to make life better for kids in care

Sandra Noel finds herself sitting on her couch looking over old photographs more and more these days.

Noel is a former ward of the state – taken from her parents in Inuvik and send south to Yellowknife.

She couldn’t tell you how many social workers she had but she quickly shares how much she missed growing up in the high arctic community of Inuvik as a teenager.

“Between moving around a lot it was confusing and scary,” she says. “It was hard having everything up in the air.”

Now through records – she’s learning about her past.

“I am anxious to get them and read them,” she said.

Noel is collecting her social services records from the government of the Northwest Territories after spending a decade in foster care.

She was adopted out at birth and her adoptive parents moved from Inuvik to Yellowknife. She was then put in a foster home at age 10.

And she has questions.

“The main questions were about my dad passing, my birth family,” she said. “My social workers were working on a family tree for me but I haven’t seen that in my records yet.”

It’s been over a year now since she first started requesting her child welfare file.

She finds it tedious and a long process.

“Online it said I would have to pay to get my records. From there I went to social services to get my records. They referred me to someone else so I went there and saw someone I could talk to about it and the process of applying,” she said.

The documents aren’t complete. Many have been redacted and some of the information hasn’t exactly enlightened her.

“I guess in my mind I was expecting the deep dark stuff,” Noel said. “The first file I picked up was more of the social workers generic stuff, travel letters and what not.”

Now Noel wants to put her strength and experience with the system to good use.

She teamed up with a not for profit organization called Youth In Care Canada to help better advocate for better services.

“Even if I help youth in care or from care that will be amazing and to help empower myself,” she said.

Noel said it’s not easy being in care.

“I know you feel unloved in care and voiceless,” she said. “I know I have so to know that there is people out there raising awareness who want to be an advocate, a voice for them.