New networks offering services for families after funding cancelled for Parent Link Centres

Months after funding for 130 Parent Link Centres was cancelled by the provincial government, their services are being offered at Family Resource Networks.

Alberta now has 134 Family Resource Networks operating on three-year contracts.Within that number,114 networks previously operated as Parent Link Centres. The other 20didn't have previous agreements with the province to provide these types of services.

On Wednesday,Children's Services Minister Rebecca Schulz touredthe C5 North East Community Hub in Edmonton, which has recently added Family Resource Network programs to the range of services it offers.

"The model is quite a bit different," Schulz said of the provincial Family Resource Network initiative.

"[It's]really intended to make sure that there are high-quality services based on best practice and leading research, but also more coordinated services to make sure that at-risk kids and families can succeed."

The province announced last November that funding for Parent Link Centres would be cancelled by March.The centresoffered a variety offree supports and programs for parents and caregivers of children from infants to six years old.

The newmodel offers prevention and early intervention services for kids up to the age of 18.

• Parents worry end to Parent Link Centres will leave gap in vital services

During the pandemic, the C5 North East Community Hub has been offering online programming, and more recently allowing people to stop in.

Agencies involved in the hub include the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, Terra Centre for Teen Parents,Norwood Child and Parent Link Centre, Boyle Street Community Services, Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society and SAGE Seniors Association.

The Family Resource Network programs now being offered at C5 join others includingemployment services, housing supports and services for seniors.

The hub was already offering youth services, but now it's expanded its programs to include children under the age of six, offering places for them to have a story read to them, nap or play.

"We are doing more than co-locating in this space; we're really helping families engage," said Gary Benthem, a Family Resource Network coordinator at C5.

"We're preventing families from having to tell their stories over and over again to multiple organizations, and really allowing them to come to one place and receive all the support that they need."

Someparents voiced concerns about the change away from Parent Link Centres, worrying that programs they used would be scrapped, especiallyin smaller cities and rural areas.

But Schulz said those programs are being added to already existing facilities that were offering similar services.

"People are already doing it," she said. "Government just needed to catch up."

Operating the Family Resource Networks is expected to cost under $60 millionannually.The government estimates the changewill save $12 million a year.