Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 13/05) - With six foster kids and two of her own, eight is enough to keep Tammy Krivda moving.

This foster mother - and president of the Yellowknife Foster Family Association - has been taking in foster children for 14 years, 12 of them in Yellowknife.

A busy schedule is just a typical day for Tammy Krivda. Krivda and her husband Greg have two daughters and six foster children. Here, Krivda schedules an appointment while talking about a second one.

"Anyone who has a large family is going to be busy," said Krivda.

She is taking a short break. One child is being fed intravenously in the kitchen and another naps in the bedroom. With the rest at school, it's a brief moment of calm, aside from their two barking dogs.

Every date on their large block calendar has an appointment scheduled and the

Krivdas drive a 15-seat passenger van, to fit the whole family.

She provides long-term care, with most of her kids in permanent custody and receives a $35 a day payment for each child. That means $70,560 a year.

The NWT had 620 children in foster homes in 2004-05.

In the same period, there were 2,200 child protection investigations, up from 1,906 in 2001-02.

"When kids go into care, it's a huge, traumatic experience for them. They are losing everything that is familiar to them," said Krivda.

"Like any relationship you build, they can be a bit stand-offish at first. Some children might not be comfortable with physical contact at first, like hugging. They've witnessed some things that kids shouldn't witness," said Krivda.

The youngest at the Krivdas is 21 months and the oldest is almost 18 years old.

Taking children from parents is a sensitive issue anywhere. In the NWT - with its history of residential schools - even more so.

"My husband is aboriginal and I totally understand what they're thinking. They're happy their kids are with us, because my husband is aboriginal, but they quickly see that isn't the most important thing," said Krivda.

"I have a mixture of Inuit, Dene, Hungarian and Vietnamese kids. All my kids are unique," said Krivda.

"We wanted more children and we weren't able to have them. My husband was raised in foster care and it wasn't a pleasant experience for him," said Krivda.

Their two oldest daughters are about to have another brother. The Krivdas are adopting the youngest child in their care.

Extended family

Now they have an extended family, and that has led to the family atmosphere at this foster home.

"They call the other children their brothers and sisters. They stick up for each other, they fight with each other, they have sibling rivalry, the whole thing," said Krivda.

The family isn't looking for any more foster children.

"Well, eight is a lot, and when one leaves they need support as well. I'm at my limit now," said Krivda.