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 √ (√ = PRESENT) √ Mary-Anne Bedard (cochair) √ Bruno Pileggi √ Francine Umulisa for Eliane Nguyen √ √ √ 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 • Attendance recorded • 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 • • • 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 • • 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 • • • • • 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 rd The next Integrated Steering Committee meeting is on April 23 at 9 a.m., room 310 Metro Hall. 5. TERMS OF REFERENCE ADOPTION • • • • • 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 2 F AMILY SUPPORT COMMITTEE M INUTES APRIL 2, 2012 • 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 • • • • 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 • • • 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 • • • • 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 • Composition of Health Committee David • Update the Terms of Reference to reflect discussed changes (membership, vision, acronyms) David 6. CO-CHAIR AND ISC REPRESENTATIVE ELECTION • 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. • • • Mary-Anne Bedard • ACTION ITEMS 7. WORKPLAN • • 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 3 F AMILY SUPPORT COMMITTEE M INUTES APRIL 2, 2012 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 • • ACTION ITEMS PERSON RESPONSIBLE • Karin, Ekua Present the high-level workplan to the Integrated Steering Committee • 8. NEXT MEETING Monday, May 28, 2012 9:30 – 11:30am North York Civic Centre, Committee Room 6 ACTION ITEMS PERSON RESPONSIBLE • David Schedule future meetings at 9:30am TORONTO CHILD AND F AMILY ADVISORY N ETWORK 4