Family Supports

After hearing from Emily, you leave the library to catch up with the rest of the tour group. On your way, you pass a woman named Mary who is visiting The Family Centre’s mental health therapist. You exchange warm glances. Mary asks if you have a child at the school. You tell her you are here learning about the All in for Youth initiative. She lights up and asks to tell you about how members of the All in for Youth team changed her life. You let her know you would be delighted to hear her story.

Family Supports

Family support workers have become an important part of many families’ lives, providing direct support for parents and connecting families to other community resources. They help caregivers work through traumatic experiences that continued to affect their lives. They also help families access and navigate community resources and systems such as getting benefits, food, and housing, by identifying appropriate supports for each family and assisting them in gaining access.

Along with helping children succeed in school and helping their families get stronger, we see many other benefits when providing family supports. These include:

• Improved social equity for children facing barriers, including children who are Indigenous, newcomers, and refugees.
• Improved employability of youth and an elevated quality for our workforce.
• Contributions toward ending the cycle of poverty; and
• Reduced costs to taxpayers of remedial education, health care, and social supports.