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Parent Link contracts terminated across the province

The program, that helps hundreds of families in the Bow Valley in a variety of ways including counseling services for children and parents and developmental screening services, employs eight full-time and four part-time staff throughout the valley – jobs that could be lost come end of March 2020.
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Parents, staff and children at the Parent Link centre in Canmore celebrate its 10 year anniversary in 2015. The provincial government announced in November 2019 it has cancelled all municipal contracts to run Parent Link centres in Alberta effective March 2020. RMO FILE PHOTO

CANMORE – As the local municipal government continues to dissect the recently released provincial budget, one popular community program, Parent Link, has seen its municipal contract terminated.

The program, which helps hundreds of families in the Bow Valley in a variety of ways including counseling for children and parents and developmental screening services, employs six full-time, two part-time and seven casual staff throughout the valley – jobs that could be lost at the end of March 2020.

“Perhaps for me, the most disappointing and discouraging cut I’ve heard about is Parent Link,” said Mayor John Borrowman during Tuesday’s (Nov. 5) regular council meeting.

“Historically for Parent Link, 2019 and 2020, we had $490,000 in grants for the program ... that’s just a straight cut. Brutal.”

The Town received a letter on Monday (Nov. 4) from Alberta Children Services notifying it that the funding and municipal contract for Parent Link would finish at the end of March 2020 while the province adopts a new service delivery model.

“Children’s Services has adopted the well-being and resiliency framework to guide our efforts to enhance prevention and early intervention services for children, youth and families,” it read.

“This letter is your formal notice that your contract ACS251162 for the Bow Valley Parent Link program and grant ACS250752 for the Bow Valley Parent Link Centre program will end on March 31, 2020 and will not be renewed. As of April 1, 2020, Children’s Services will no longer be funding these programs in its current state.”

It is unclear what the new framework will look like, but the department of Children Services said it is launching a new Expression of Interest process, which all current service providers are invited to apply for. Lauren Armstrong, press secretary for the Minister of Children Services, Rebecca Schulz, said it's developing “wrap-around supports for at-risk families.”

“By developing a continuum of wrap-around supports for at-risk families, we will achieve these goals: children will be supported to build the best possible foundation in their early years, youth transitioning to adulthood will have resources they need, and parents and caregivers will be supported in raising their families,” Armstrong wrote in an email.

There is no clear indication of how this would be achieved come April 1, 2020 and questions about if the funding will be more or less, or not funded at all, were left unanswered. All 126 Parent Link Centres across the province are in the same situation, including the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. 

"While I can't pre-suppose the results of the EOI process, many existing service providers are likely to be successful and continue to deliver services as they do now," said Armstrong. 

"However, it is fair to expect that there will be some change in communities across Alberta. We expect that consolidation of services and grants will save approximately $12 million, bringing total system funding to around $65 million."

On the Town's Bow Valley Parent Link website, a notice for families in the community detailed these change will effect them.

"Families across the Bow Valley will be impacted by this change," stated the online notice. "In addition, a total of 15 staff (six full-time, two part-time and seven casual) who are employed with BVPL will be affected by this notification. The Town of Canmore will share more details on the future of Parent Link services within the Bow Valley as they become available."

Parent Link is a popular local program that is estimated to help hundreds of families in Banff, Canmore and Exshaw.

The services and programs it provides focus on five community areas: early childhood and development care, family support, parent education, information and referral and developmental screening.

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