About Us
Providing Foster Care Since 1996
Who We Are
At Safe Harbours it is our mission to ensure every child has a home. Our foster parents have open hearts and understand that progress takes patience and perseverance.
Safe Harbours provides a high level of support to our children and care and to our dedicated team of foster parents. Our kids get mental health treatment much faster than most other children in foster care, they have a support worker assigned to them and our Clinical Director ensures they are receiving the highest quality of care. Our foster parents are supported by Resource Workers who understand the day-to-day challenges and are always there to lend an ear, provide guidance and advocate on their behalf.
The vision of Safe Harbours is to make sure that when kids leave our care that they are more resilient, in good mental health and ready for the future than when they came to us.
Coming into care is a major event for a child. They are likely coming from a home that harmed their bodies and their mental health. Behaviours they exhibit can range from “odd” to disturbing, such as self-harm. This isn’t their fault and our parents know that. We work with therapists and professionals to get to the root causes and build coping strategies. We also emphasize self-care, life skills and academic achievement.
At Safe Harbours we value our team and our colleagues at the various Children’s Aid Societies across Ontario – teamwork is how we create success in our children.
We are so proud of our foster parents, child support workers and team of social workers. They always go above and beyond to give everything they can to help our kids in care. We also acknowledge the dedication of the workers at Children’s Aid who sometimes seem to move mountains to get as much support for their kids as possible. When we all work together positively, what we can achieve is amazing.
Our Team
Meet the founders and team members at Safe Harbours
Chris Wilson Executive Director
Chris is our Executive Director. He began working in foster care in 2008 for our sister agency, Annie’s Havens. During that time, he worked in all aspects of care from accounting to filling in as the temporary Executive Director for Annie’s Havens from 2011 – 2013.
He has had foster brothers and sisters since he was a young boy. Having that sibling relationship with foster children taught him the nuances of what they face. Knowing that children need more than services, that they need real care has always been on the top of his mind.
Hilda Wilson Home Study Practitioner & Director
Hilda is our Home Study Practitioner. Also, she is responsible for Placement Coordination at our sister agency, Annie’s Havens. Her care an attention produces excellent Home Studies which improves our ability to make appropriate placements.
From 1991 to 2017, Hilda fostered many children with her husband, Bill. Together, they have run their foster care agency since 1996.
Thomas Jones Clinical Director
Thomas is an experienced clinical leader with a demonstrated history of success working across various settings including hospital health care industry, as well as children’s community mental health, having held positions with cross ministerial involvement within the province of Ontario. He began his career working with youth and journeyed through various front line experiences, leading him to progressive leadership positions, where he provides oversight to diverse teams across the continuum of services from community to health care settings.
Michelle Potvin Resource Worker
Michelle is a trained Child and Youth Worker and has a BA in Social Work.
Tracy Godden Resource Worker & Home Study Practitioner
Tracy is a trained Child and Youth Worker. She currently works part time in the Windsor area and also works with the Windsor-Essex District School Baord as a CYW Behaviour Specialist and Educational Assistant.