Family Connections Program

Focus: Respite and family development
Details: 11 family-based respite spaces
Target Population: Children and youth aged 8–15 years, co-ed
Intake: Referral by MCFD
Time Duration: Six months
Staffing: One full-time Family Support Counsellor

The Family Connections Program provides family support services with the objectives of enhancing family relationships and connecting families to community resources. The goal of this program is to reduce the likelihood that a child/youth will require full time residential care as well as to reduce the family’s dependence on formal services. Families referred to this program are assisted in identifying community and natural supports, improving self care and life skills, and developing positive social connections among family members, adults, peers and the community.

Central to the program is individualized family-based respite care where the child or youth attends a respite home in the community usually two weekends per month. Respite homes are sub-contracted caregivers recruited, screened, and supported by Connexus in accordance with MCFD Standards for Foster Homes. The goal of respite care is to provide much needed support in the form of a ‘break’ between the parent and the child, and to offer an opportunity for the family to develop a long-term plan of care.

Concurrent to respite care, the program also offers support to the family including the following services:

•Introducing the child/youth to activities and programs that may be of   interest or benefit,
•Connecting the parents to community resources that will enhance their   personal development and their parenting capacity,
•assisting parents in exploring extended family supports or suitable   alternatives to respite service.

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