 |
Visit our Foundation
| Who
We Are | Foundation
Grants | Special
Funds | Foundation
Events
Foundation
Publications | Ways
to Give | Wish
List | FAQ
2011 marks Family and Children’s Services Foundation’s 20th anniversary. We are proud to have spent two decades improving the lives of thousands of abused and neglected children, and their families, to help them become successful members of our community. Much of this work has been done by ensuring that as children they have the same opportunities as their more fortunate peers.
For the past twenty years, through your support, the Foundation has been able to provide the following "extras":
81 service or prevention program pilots and expansions to keep children safe, families strong, and our communities supported. Today more than ever, families struggle with many complex issues, and often their children are affected by these struggles. Though prevention we can address these issues before a family breaks down.
8438 life enriching opportunities such as camp, sport, or culture. These important opportunities build a child’s self esteem, confidence, and sense of identity; and give them the chance to move past the hurts and traumas to ‘just be a kid’.
21 educational support grants for our children, because we know that many children served by the agency face serious challenges in the educational system. Because of troubled beginnings, many of the children we support struggle at least two grades behind their peers and need our help to catch up and ensure they stay on track to graduate.
164 scholarships have been presented to youth who have broken the cycle of poverty by being accepted to post secondary programs.
This community’s continued support allows the Foundation to
grant money for prevention, education, and life enrichment opportunities
for vulnerable children, youth, and families, allowing for such essential programs or projects
as:
- A grant for the Foster Family Breakfast which allows foster families the chance to connect with each other in a casual, relaxed space; sharing resources and support. Entertainers, such as the Reptile Man and others, provide amusement for the children in attendance—both biological and foster. We recognize that fostering is a whole-family commitment.
- An education session addressing the stigma of mental health which will include: a dramatization by the MT Spaces theatre company; individuals with lived experience telling the story of their journey with mental health; a former crown ward telling her story of growing up with a parent with mental health issues; as well as comics from Stand Up for Mental Health who write their own material based on their lived experience.
- To support the Annual Open Adoption Christmas gathering in the new Family Centre for our birth parents who have placed their children for adoption through our infant consent program and/or those birth parents whose children have been placed for adoption following court involvement, as well as their siblings and extended family supports. The primary goal is to support and assist open adoptions by having birth parents connect with their children and their adoptive families during the holiday season.
- To establish a queer-identified fathers support group to provide the opportunity to meet for social interactions, support and information sharing. The goals of the group will be achieved by: holding monthly gatherings, developing/maintaining a resource library, potential development of a website, and hosting events associated with the annual Tri-Pride Celebration.
- To create opportunities for youth in care to engage in the arts in a studio environment. The benefits would be to provide self-expression and skill building, to give youth an opportunity to explore and express their opinions, recapture and grow their creative abilities and increase their self-esteem and confidence.
- To cover tuition costs of private school enrolment for a student, for whom serious safety concerns prevent the student from attending public school.
- The Blairview School Program and the Courtland Learning Centre who service youth 9—16 who have difficulties in a mainstream school setting. They offer life skills cooking classes, and nutrition programs that introduce students to healthy, balanced lifestyle choices. The program has a fitness component and the students participate in daily exercises.
- To provide all children and youth, both in the care of the agency as well as living with their families in the community, the opportunity to participate in recreational camp experiences. In the summer of 2010, the agency sent children and youth to 643 weeks of summer camp.
- To provide musical opportunities for the youth of FCS at the Singhaven Recording Studio, which has over 100 youth/children of all ages participating in discovering their musical ability at various levels. The ultimate goal of the studio is to inspire youth to pursue music in any form (i.e. instrumental, vocal) as a form of self-expression. This opportunity often leads to youth discussing their own cultural/musical backgrounds and have them learn about, and gain understanding of, the various backgrounds in this community.
- To offer specialized programming for children and youth including building relationships with adult caregivers, building relationships within foster families and enabling youth to build better relationships with their peers and their community. The Empathy Building Program pilot expected outcomes of: increased resiliency among children and youth, improvement in relationships and attachments within our families, happy childhood memories for our kids in care, and increased opportunities to explore the world outside of the foster care system.
- To continue the Camp UGottaGo March break/summer camp for children 3—13 years of age, and offer a Leader in Training program for youth 14 and older. To also offer PD day programs, such as the YMCC, as well as Christmas adventure days. One of the important ways this camp promotes self-esteem by providing a safe space for children and youth to acknowledge and share without fear of stigma when identifying as a child living in foster care.
|
168
Hespeler Rd., Cambridge, ON, N1R 6V7