COCHRANE— A new province-wide Family Resource Network presented by Alberta Children's Services will see essential family support resources reconfigured to adapt to the needs of children ages zero to 18 in Cochrane.
As of March 31, 2020, Alberta Children's Services' (ACS) previous funding model in place would no longer fund the Western Rocky View Family and Community Resource Centre, the Parent Link Centre, or the Home Visitation Program, urging the Town to submit an expression of interest back in November 2019 and apply for funding under the new model.
Cochrane has been dedicated a Family Resource Network hub that will fall under a new province-wide well-being and resiliency model "A Framework for Supporting Safe and Healthy Children and Families." The new network will ultimately become one community powerhouse of support, entertaining a wide spectrum of services and resources for families to access while also tending to the 6-18 age gap that was missing with Parent Link.
"I think the Family Resource Network model is actually really beautiful and will be a huge asset to the community," said Kim Krawec, manager of Cochrane Family and Community Support Services (FCSS). "The model itself is really well done and will provide a continuum of support for families."
Minister of Children's Services Rebecca Schulz said that many contracts that were in place with the previous funding model had not been reviewed since 1995, resulting in an inconsistent patchwork of services that was confusing for families to navigate through.
"Going forward, the new Family Resource Networks will rectify the service gap that can exist for school-age children and using world-leading practice guides help at-risk kids grow up to lead productive and meaningful lives no matter where they live or how much income their family earns."
The Minister's office explained the Family Resource Network will deliver prevention and early intervention services and supports through a provincial network of community-based service providers, adding support is targeted to families facing poverty or trauma who may need guidance to build healthy families and contribute to healthy communities which will reduce the number of children that will come into provincial care.
A centre of activity or "hubs" will be instated throughout the province which will act as main networks for individuals to access resources within their community. These resources will then be coordinated with community partnership agencies or service providers "spokes".
Krawec said the government took an interesting approach with this new grant. "Hubs" needed to be applied for individually as well as "spokes."
"We applied to be a hub of course as kind of the centre of the community and then we also applied for different spokes as well and then the province took a look at everything that everybody applied for and tried to make sure there were supports through all the different spokes to meet the needs of the community," Krawec said.
FCSS holds the contract for the Family Resource Network hub and was awarded two spokes - Early Childhood Development Programs, which supports 0-6 and Parent Capacity Building, which is parent education and support for zero to 18.
The Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area was also awarded a spoke for Youth Programming and the Children's Cottage was awarded the Home Visitation spoke said Krawec adding they provide more intensive in-home support for families with children age zero to six.
"As the hub, we will be working really closely with all of the different spokes to make sure families have seamless access to the supports that they need," Krawec explained.
The provincial Networks will provide families with ongoing support in a stream of different areas including strengthening parenting and caregiving knowledge, social support, coping and problem-solving skills, access to community supports and resources, improving child and youth development, building resiliency and fostering well-being.
With Cochrane being recognized a medium-sized community by the province, the Town will be receiving $615,000 in funding for the new Family Resource Network, but this will be divvied up to include the FRN hub, the spokes being provided and funding going to the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area as well as the Children's Cottage.
"That funding all isn't coming to FCSS, that's for the community as a whole," Krawec said.
On the program side of things, Krawec said there are some guidelines that need to be followed from Alberta Children's Services. The programs need to adhere to the province's new resiliency and well-being framework model in place, including important ways of building attachment and parent-child relationships and enhancing child development.
Krawec added they will not be dictated on the programs they offer just so long as they are flexible and unique to meet the needs of the community.
"A one-size-fits-all model wouldn't work across the province," she said. "We will be looking at the programs that were previously offered, doing an evaluation of them and ensuring that similar programming will be offered moving forward. We don't have a formal list yet of what it will look like, but it will cover the age range, especially for our early childhood development programs."
The Cochrane and Area Family Resource Network will be located in the old Parent Link centre and will be getting a facelift in the near future to accommodate its new range of services. Krawec said it will act as a one-stop-shop for families to access support and services all under one roof, adding the renovation will also create more office space to house their team. She says although Parent Link is no longer, the new Family Resource Network will still continue with instrumental programs that were admired by avid followers of the centre.
"Parents will continue to see early childhood development programs being offered, the developmental screening will be available, parenting classes, and parenting support."
Due to the pandemic, the opening of the Cochrane and Area Family Resource Network has been put on hold, but access to support, resources, information and referrals are still being offered through online methods and phone calls.
