Parents concerned about end of government funding for parent link centres

Parent link centres provide play groups, classes, education and social opportunities for parents of children ages 6 and under.

For Jennifer Bezanson, a mother of a five-month-old daughter named Emily, the classes at the centre are a life line for new mothers.

“You just make social connections, and it gets you out of your house,” she said. “Sometimes, being a mom can be lonely, and this is way to get out, socialize and have fun.”

Christina Tempest is another parent who have utilized the program, visiting Baby Time classes with her son Jack every Friday. She says the classes remind new mothers they are not alone.

“I know one day I came in, and commented on something he was going through, and a number of the other moms were like ‘we’re going through the exact same thing,’” she said. “It opens the conversation.”

When they learned about the funding change, they were disappointed.

“My husband works away a lot, so this is my avenue to get myself out and to get her out and to make community connections,” said Bezanson.

Added Tempest “It’s a wonderful program to have. I didn’t know about it until I needed it, and I think that’s with a lot of the programs, until you need them, you don’t know they’re available.”

CHAT News reached out to Rebecca Schulz, the Minister of Children’s Services, for an interview, but she was not available. Instead, a statement was sent to us.

“We are consolidating and realigning the way Children’s Services delivers prevention and early intervention services, like Parent Link and Family Resource Centres, across the province,” wrote Lauren Armstrong, the press secretary to the minister, in a statement. “We can’t continue to do things just because that’s the way they’ve always been done- some of these contracts haven’t been reviewed since 1995 and it’s resulted in an a disconnected patchwork of services across the province.

The statement adds the province will launch the new Family Resource Networks as of March 31, 2020 “which will rectify the service gap that can exist after age 6 and align with the precedent-setting Well Being and Resiliency Framework (WBRF), to help at-risk kids grow up to lead productive and meaningful lives no matter where they live or how much income their family has.”

Armstrong’s statement notes the expression of interest process for the new program is underway, and all current service providers are invited to apply.

“We expect many current service providers will be successful applicants- in many cases they are already using the cutting edge practice model (WBRF) and partnering with other agencies to create a continuum of services,” the statement reads.

Leah Schmidt, program manager with McMan, says the organization is examining the current expression of interest. She says she wants to reassure parents services are still available at the Parent Link Centre.

“We, on a daily basis, see what kind of impact that early intervention and prevention services have for parents, so we’re just currently taking a look at what the expression of interest looks like,” she said. “We know that there will be continued programming for parents after April 1.”

For Tempest and Bezanson, they’re hopeful programs at parent link centres will remain, even under the new service.

“This is available until March, I’ll be going back to work in April, but there’s a whole, next set of parents that I think could really benefit from it,” said Tempest.

“We need this. This is absolutely vital,” added Bezanson.

For 2019-20, McMan received $536,260.92, according to Armstrong.

The expression of interest deadline is January 16, with successful applicants being announced in February.

by Charles Lefebvre

Parents concerned about end of government funding for parent link centres

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