Who We Are

Key Assets is recognized internationally as a group of organizations providing innovative and leading services to children and families in 9 countries. Through collaboration with government and community partners, we strive to provide positive, lasting outcomes for all children and families.

Our global footprint ensures that Key Assets is at the cutting edge of research and we can access learning and evidence informed programs from across the globe. This places us at the forefront of international expertise and ensures we can rapidly adapt programs and models to suit local context. All over the world, Key Assets organizations work together to change the lives of children and families for the better.

At Key Assets, we are committed to working with governments and organizations across Canada to deliver quality services that improve the lives of the most vulnerable in our community. Underpinned by strong values and a commitment to improving outcomes for children and youth across the world, the story of Key Assets in Canada began in 2009. Our presence was first established in Newfoundland & Labrador and later that year in Ontario. Now, our footprint also includes Nova Scotia.

The journey was quite unique for Key Assets NL. In 2009/2010, the organization began providing training, consultancy and wraparound supports. In 2011, in response to a community need, we developed Individual Living Arrangements (ILA’s) for children with specialized needs. In October 2015, the implementation of a Family-Based Care Pilot was approved by CSSD (Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development) and in 2019, legislation was passed to integrate Family-Based Care into the system.

Key Assets thus became an important part of the Child Welfare landscape in Newfoundland & Labrador, creating a continuum of care services including: SNAP® created by the Child Development Institute, Family Intervention Services, Clinical Consulting and the coordinator of the first provincial Child Advocacy Centre in collaboration with community partners.

In Ontario, Key Assets received a license-to-operate Foster Care services in January 2011. As a new addition to over 70 similar organizations delivering foster and group care it took time to establish credibility and a reputation for quality services. The organization has grown to be considered a leading organization delivering flexible, innovative and highly support placements for children from a range of diverse cultural and clinical backgrounds. Providing services to over 35 child welfare agencies in the province, Key Assets has expanded to include professional consultancy and training services.

In 2019, we were approached by the Nova Scotia government’s Department of Community Services to address a gap in community programming and services. Like the development of ILAs in Newfoundland & Labrador, we offered community-based services designed to meet the unique and individualized needs of youth with complex needs in the province.

Our logo mirrors our purpose characterized by a structured geometric pattern that repeats and strengthens each time a new piece is added. Each colour and piece represent the diversity of our service offered across the continuum of care as well as the contribution everyone makes.

The formulaic pattern develops into a “heart shape” reinforcing the message that the lives of the people we serve are at the very “heart” of what we do and why we exist. The gap in the heart structure reminds us that no matter how far we go, Key Assets is always remain committed to find a solution to complete the shape.

Our logo is in sync, visually, with the Martin James Foundation, the Global Charity established by our founder, Jim Cockburn. The Martin James Foundation delivers positive social services and solutions for vulnerable children and families and promotes family-based care in countries where institutionalized care is a norm.

Our logo is the same across all our organizations and services in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific. We might have different company names, but our logo is our unifier. The Key Assets identity represents a journey of many paths, continually growing and changing and focused on achieving positive and lasting outcomes for children, families and communities.

An ‘asset’ is something of value. We take care of ‘assets’ and we invest in them in order to have a future benefit and impact.

Our name reflects our belief that children and young people are valuable and precious! They are the future and we must do everything we can to support them to grow up in safe and caring environments that help them to lead successful lives. We see children and young people as ‘key assets’ of our future.

We also recognize that for children and young people to do well in life, they must be nurtured, supported and invested in. Areas such as education, emotional well-being, cultural identity, belongingness and health require our time and investment. We want our young people to be resilient, confident and successful.

Our name ‘key assets’ reflects the role that individuals and teams play in nurturing and caring for young people. We would say that our staff, our foster carers and the families of children and young people are also ‘key assets’ in supporting them to reach their full potential.