Family Day

February 18, 2012 permalink

Monday, February 20, is Family Day in Ontario. Events supporting families will take place in:

• Brantford, Ontario
• Chatham, Ontario
• London, Ontario
• Niagara Falls, Ontario
• Oshawa, Ontario
• Ottawa, Ontario
• Saint Johns, Newfoundland
• Sarnia, Ontario

We're holding a green candlelight vigil for 2 hours in memory of all the lost, broken and destroyed families. Hoping other communities will do the same in support of these families. Green represents fertility which is why we have chosen this color. Any and all people are welcome with any color candle.

Source: CAS Ontario

The family destruction industry has tried to usurp family day. Enclosed is a promotional piece given to MyKawartha promoting the local children's aid society.

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CAS program tries to preserve family life

By Sarah Frank, Feb 17, 2012 - 7:54 AM

Behavioural therapy teaches basic parenting skills to bring children home sooner

(PETERBOROUGH) A healthy family environment is important.

So important, there's now a holiday to celebrate it, and to encourage families to spend some quality time together. But without confidence and a knowledge of proper parenting skills, family life can get tricky. For some parents, it means having their child taken away until they can provide a safe and healthy environment.

The Haliburton-Kawartha Children's Aid Society is working to get children back in their homes sooner. The society's Family Preservation Program does just that - helps to preserve family, through behavioural therapy.

Through supervised access for families and at-home behavioural support, workers spend a few hours each week teaching parents skills ranging from child management and infant care to hygiene and interaction.

For each family the program is a little different, depending on their needs.

Erin Hentig, a team leader with the program, says the main goal is to keep the child at home, or work to bring the child home.

"We meet with the case worker and with the family to collect information on where the family is now, then go into an intervention stage where we work towards foals with the families," she says, noting the plans are often modified as the workers discover what works best for each individual family. "Once the family meets the objectives we close their file and continue to monitor their progress."

The family then remains as participants in the program until their child is returned home - a decision left to their case worker.

The local society is the only branch of Children's Aid Society to implement a behavioural analysis program - and it's success speaks for itself.

"Our success rates are fairly high for the families that are engaged," says Ms Hentig. "(Parents) often say we gave them the skills and determination and ultimately the confidence to be able to parent their children."

Ms Hentig says one family calls workers monthly to give an update of their progress. The parents previously struggled with addiction.

"Their file has been closed for a year-and-a-half now," says Ms Hentig. "They've been sober all this time and they're doing great."

Each month, the program receives anywhere from five to 15 referrals for families needing help.

Ms Hentig is on-track to become the program's first certified behaviourist this year, after recently completing a Masters in applied disability studies at Brock University. Ms Hentig is also completing 1500 hours of supervised work in the program.

"Behavioural therapy has always fascinated me," she says. "I really like working with people to teach them the skills they need to succeed in life. It's exciting when a family reaches their goals and feels adequate to parent their child in an engaging environment."

The program could benefit other communities as well, says Ms Hentig.

"It's important for some families for someone to go into their home to provide intensive routines for a couple of hours every week - you really start to see a difference," she says.

The program partners with various community outlets including Early Years, the health unit and school boards to provide up-to-date information and resources to families.

Source: My Kawartha (Metroland)

Another effort to usurp family day is taking place in the Niagara region, where FACS Niagara has organized a Family Day Free Skate (promotional poster pdf). The CAS Ontario group, allied with Canada Court Watch, will be gathering petition signatures outside the Free Skate events supporting ombudsman oversight of children's aid. Here is their announcement.