Programs & Services

Family Support Program

The Family Support Program offers in-home assistance to parents. Together, the Family Support worker and the parents determine which areas to work on to develop and strengthen skills. Some of the more frequent areas identified have been:

  • understanding and responding effectively to children's behaviours;
  • improving home safety and maintenance;
  • establishing consistent routines, rules and consequences for children;
  • helping to promote children's social, school and behavioural skills;
  • improving parent-teen relationships;
  • budgeting;
  • learning how to provide healthy meals and snacks on a budget;
  • building a support system in the community;
  • help in accessing services, resources and special funding in the community;
  • understanding child development and needs of children at different stages;
  • building healthy attachments between parents and children
  • supporting mothers-to-be through pregnancy
  • supporting families when a child is returning home from care or treatment
  • individual support to children/youth through the creation of a service plan to develop their strengths and work on identified goals

Family Visit Centre

Where required, Family Visit Centre offers a safe, supervised location where family members receiving services from the Children's Aid can visit with one another. We are in the process of developing programming that will enable some visits to occur outside of the Centre, with supports and supervision as needed. This may include the provision of services geared to strengthening parenting skills in order to enhance the quality of visits, with a view to eliminating the need for long-term supervision of access.

Make the Connection

Periodically, the Family Support team offers a Parenting group, called Make the Connection. There are two phases of this program: one for parents of children from birth to one year of age, and the second phase is for parents with children ages 1-2. Make the Connection is a nine week program with the specific purpose of strengthening the parent-child relationship. In a fun, interactive group setting, parents learn the skills necessary to establish loving relationships, two-way communication and nurture their child's drive to explore and learn. Children are included for part of every session, and the agency provides transportation and additional child care as needed. Parents receive a CD of songs and rhymes and a DVD of their interaction with their child to take home and keep. When there is not a group running, Family Support workers can deliver this program on an individual basis in the family home. The next session for ages birth to one will be offered in January 2014.

All of the Family Support Workers have also received intensive training in the Circle of Security. This training enables the workers to assists parents in understanding the behaviours and needs of their young children. Behaviours of infant and pre-verbal toddlers can often be confusing and it can be difficult to decipher what they are seeking. Workers who have had training in the Circle of Security can help parents figure out what their child really needs, based on the child's behaviours, and this understanding enables parents to respond appropriately and effectively. The goal of this work is to develop secure attachments and healthy parent-child relationships.

Signs of Safety Family Meetings

What is a Signs of Safety Meeting?

Signs of Safety is an approach to child welfare work, created by Andrew Turnell and Steve Edwards.

Signs of Safety meetings help families and caregivers to work with the CAS and other services to keep children safe.

We think that families are experts about their own children and therefore essential in planning to improve the situation for their child or chidlren.

For more information about Signs of Safety Family Meetings please CLICK HERE to view our brochure.

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