Yellowknife (Apr 21/03) - Iqaluit Social workers may not always be viewed in the most positive light, but Adam Kilukishak said they are there to lend support to families.

Adam Kilukishak is a social worker in Iqaluit. He said his job is help support local families work through a variety of issues. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo

"We're here to advocate on behalf of families and lend our help," he said.

Kilukishak is a Level 1 social worker with the Department of Health and Social Services in Iqaluit.

His job includes working with and supporting families, foster children and child protection.

He said a majority of time is spent on the child protection aspect.

"That's probably the biggest part. It takes up about half of our case load," he said.

The problem, according to Kilukishak, isn't that parents are maliciously putting their children at risk. There are usually outside influences.

"There are a lot of parents who abuse alcohol.

"Unfortunately, as much as they love their kids, they depend on alcohol and they make wrong choices," he said.

What the department tries to do is deal with those alcohol issues and then work to help heal the family.

The work load can be a little emotionally taxing, said Kilukishak, who has only been a social worker for the past four months.

But, he added, the rewards of helping families is worth it, even if those rewards aren't realized right away.

Social work isn't always as grim as the child protection cases.

Kilukishak said there are times when people come in just looking for advice.

"Some people just need to be given confidence," he said.

"We help them experience a little success on their own. Once that happens they can pretty much do things on their own."

Aside from his skills as a social worker Kilukishak brings another asset to the workplace -- he is Inuit.

With a high population of Inuktitut speaking people in Iqaluit that is a definite benefit to clients.

"Sometimes clients just want to vent and they will do that in Inuktitut and it is good to not have to go through a translator," he said.

The other advantage is he has personal experience with the culture and tradition of the Inuit people.

As well, he said, he can sometimes relate to the clients a little better.

"Sometimes I know what they are going through because they grew up with the same family dynamics as I did," he said.