FAMILY SUPPORT COMMITTEE
TORONTO CHILD AND FAMILY ADVISORY NETWORK
Meeting Minutes
Date:
April 2, 2012
Time:
9-11 a.m.
Location: City Hall, Committee Room 4
MEMBERS
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(√ = PRESENT)
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Mary-Anne Bedard (cochair)
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Bruno Pileggi
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Francine Umulisa for
Eliane Nguyen
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√
√ Maia Mikarovska
Ekua Asabea Blair (cochair)
Faye Jose for
Cheryl Macdonald
√
Cheryl Skovronek
Jennifer Evans
√
Karin Davis
Nicole Welch
√
Ruth Sischy
√ Trish Hunt
STAFF SUPPORT
David Lee, Gina Maharaj
OBSERVERS
Susan Neal, Lorraine McLeod, Pat Evans, Julie Burdon
Agenda topics
1.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
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Attendance recorded
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Lorraine McLeod will be doing a Network presentation
ACTION ITEMS
2.
REVIEW OF MINUTES
Mary-Anne Bedard
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
Mary-Anne Bedard
• Child Welfare is sorting out who will sit on the network
• Community Health Centres will sit at the Health Table
2.1 Posting of Minutes
• Minutes will be posted after they have been approved by the committee.
ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
3.
NETWORK BACKGROUND
Lorraine McLeod
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Presentation given on how this network came about and examples of similar networks in other jurisdictions
An advisory group of chairs of various communities worked on the design of the network.
They looked at the best practices of other jurisdictions:
o Nipissing Best Start
F AMILY SUPPORT COMMITTEE M INUTES
APRIL 2, 2012
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o Our Kids Halton
o Early Childhood Iowa
Community Engagement – November 2010
o Held community engagement sessions in the 4 quadrants of the City.
o Feedback included the need for a central table, the need for local planning and autonomy and
accessibility of meetings.
Community Engagement – February 2011
o Again, 4 community sessions were held
o Feedback:
 Include the United Way on the Integrated Steering Committee
 2 representatives from each sub-committee should sit on the Integrated Steering Committee
to balance out the government members
 Members should be leaders in their sectors
 It should be more than information-sharing
There will be some overlap among the subcommittees
The Child and Family Outcomes Framework should be used to guide the Network.
4.
UPDATE FROM INTEGRATED STEERING COMMITTEE
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The Integrated Steering Committee is chaired by Elaine Baxter-Trahair, General Manager of Toronto
Children’s Services.
Trish Hunt and Karin Davis from the Family Support Committee attended the ISC meeting.
The Child Welfare sector has yet to identify a representative.
The Integrated Steering Committee would like the Terms of Reference to be reviewed.
o How can we re-word the vision to include families?
The Integrated Steering Committee has asked for a report from each subcommittee on their priorities
How do we address accountability and approval of workplans?
Issue was raised around how parents are involved in the Network
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The next Integrated Steering Committee meeting is on April 23 at 9 a.m., room 310 Metro Hall.
5.
TERMS OF REFERENCE ADOPTION
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Karin Davis
Mary-Anne Bedard
5.1 Toronto Vision for Children
• The Integrated Steering Committee would like the subcommittees to discuss the Vision, which was taken from
the Toronto Vision for Children.
o Is this the vision we have for children in Toronto?
o This vision doesn’t reflect families
• Suggestions/discussion regarding the vision
o A handout was provided with the suggestions from the Early Learning and Care Committee
o Community can be defined in many ways
o There should be some language around inclusiveness
• A small working group will ‘wordsmith’ the suggestions.
o David, Ekua and Pat Evans have volunteered as members of this group.
o Suggestions should be emailed to David
5.2 Membership
• The Committee agreed that the Middle Childhood Matters Coalition should be a member. Their
representative is to be determined.
• The members agreed to have the Young Parent Resources Centres sit on the committee.
• Discussion about including the Community Health Centres
o They’re already at the health subcommittee
o If necessary, we can connect with the health (and other) subcommittee(s) to discuss arising needs
and concerns.
o We can revisit this discussion once the ISC receives the workplans and priorities from each
TORONTO CHILD AND F AMILY ADVISORY N ETWORK
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F AMILY SUPPORT COMMITTEE M INUTES
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subcommittee. David will find out the composition of the health committee.
Should the Toronto Military Family Support be included in the membership?
o The committee will connect with them.
5.3
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Terms of Reference
Changes were made using suggestions from the previous meeting.
Acronyms should be spelled out in the Terms of Reference.
The Committee Purpose still needs a bit of work.
We can now add that the committee will focus on children aged 0-12 years.
5.4
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Component Functions
David has put together a one-pager on the component functions of the subcommittee
The subcommittees identify collaboration opportunities and barriers at the local level
We are an action-focused group
ACTION ITEMS
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Re-wording of the Vision
o Additional suggestions should be emailed to David
Middle Childhood Matters Coalition representative
o Susan Neal will follow-up
Young Parent Resource Centres membership
o Ekua will let David know who the invitation should go to
Contact will be made with Toronto Military Family Support to let them know about
the committee
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
David, Ekua, Pat Evans
David, Susan Neal
David, Ekua
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Composition of Health Committee
David
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Update the Terms of Reference to reflect discussed changes (membership, vision,
acronyms)
David
6.
CO-CHAIR AND ISC REPRESENTATIVE ELECTION
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The Co-chairs’ responsibilities include:
o Establishing the agenda
o Reviewing the minutes
o Facilitating meetings
o Providing staff support for meetings
The Community Co-chair and the community representative will sit at the Integrated Steering Committee
Ekua Asabea Blair has been elected as the Community Co-chair
Karin Davis has been elected as the Community Representative.
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Mary-Anne Bedard
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ACTION ITEMS
7.
WORKPLAN
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The committee will focus on children aged 0-12 years.
What are our priorities?
o Implementing ELECT principles into family support programs, with a focus on parent education
o How can we reach/interact and consult with parents?
 One way may be through social media, as more and more parents are using the internet.
o How do we make sure we are using data to help drive decisions
o Be a part of the discussion around the implementation of Child and Family Centres
TORONTO CHILD AND F AMILY ADVISORY N ETWORK
Mary-Anne Bedard
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F AMILY SUPPORT COMMITTEE M INUTES
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The impact on family support programs from Full Day Kindergarten implementation.
 Shifting the programming to older and younger age groups
 Reviewing the Family Support landscape
Karin and Ekua will bring these forward to the ISC.
o
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ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
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Karin, Ekua
Present the high-level workplan to the Integrated Steering Committee
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8.
NEXT MEETING
Monday, May 28, 2012
9:30 – 11:30am
North York Civic Centre, Committee Room 6
ACTION ITEMS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
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David
Schedule future meetings at 9:30am
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