A strong foundation for your family

Starting and growing a family is one of life’s greatest experiences. It can also be full of questions, stresses and frustrations. Our team of Family Support Workers can help you navigate these early years with home visits, screening and assessments. If your family is in need of support, you will be assigned a consistent, compassionate and experienced professional to help your family build a strong foundation for the future of your little ones.

Our services are provided for vulnerable families with children newborn to age 5 years at no-charge and are always voluntary, taking place in the comfort of your home. Funded by Alberta Human Services.

In 2023

29 Familes were served alongside their caring parents helping them to be sucessful

95 Parents/Caregivers extended famiy were involved in building their capacity to nuture and raise 44 children so they can reach their potential.

Our services consist of:

• supporting expectant parents and those with newborns and young children

• help connecting with accessing community resources

• build strong parent/child relationships

• building positive parenting strategies

• understanding infant & child development

This program is currently offered in Foothills County, Willow Creek MD and Vulcan County. If you are located outside of these services areas, we will do our best to put you in touch with someone in your community.

videos

Experiences Build Brain Architecture - The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through a process that begins early in life and continues into adulthood. Simpler circuits come first and more complex brain circuits build on them later. Genes provide the basic blueprint, but experiences influence how or whether genes are expressed. Together, they shape the quality of brain architecture and establish either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the learning, health, and behavior that follow. Plasticity, or the ability for the brain to reorganize and adapt, is greatest in the first years of life and decreases with age.

Child Development Core Story

This educational video series on the importance of the early years was created by the Project for Babies, a former initiative of the University of Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development. The series features Regents Professor Megan Gunnar, Director of the Institute for Child Development at the University of Minnesota, and a member of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.

Part 1: Brain Architecture

Part 2: Serve and Return

Part 3: Stress

Part 4: Pay Now or Pay Later

Part 5: Resilience