Family Friends are a key component of the Safe Families Canada’s Circle of Support model and work to keep children safe by caring for and supporting their parents. Family Friends seek to increase a family’s capacity to nurture and protect their children, use the resources and opportunities that are available within their community and join supportive networks that enable families to look out for one another.

Responsibilities of a Family Friend may include, but are not limited to:

1. Providing friendship
2. Listening when a parent wants to talk
3. Providing encouragement when a parent needs a little extra support
4. Sharing helpful information about parenting and life in general
5. Connecting needy parents to a vast resource network of services and items available at minimal cost.
6. Supporting parents whose children are placed with Host Families
7. Advocating with/for families seeking the proper academic setting, mental and physical health opportunities and other resources for their children.

Family Friends are trained volunteers that are supported by a network of resources that includes: community development organizations, schools, clinics, counseling and churches.