BC Council for Families

by Marilee Peters
Director of Communications, BC Council for Families

Looking for ways to strengthen supports for children and families in your community? Interested in bringing together local stakeholders to start making your community a better place for children to grow and develop? You're in luck. Check out the Aboriginal Child Friendly Communities Toolkit: Inclusion of the Early Years, a child-friendly assessment and planning resource released last week by the Society for Children and Youth.

Designed for use by Aboriginal communities, including First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and On and Off Reserve Aboriginal communities (regardless of status), the toolkit can also be utilized by anyone interested in promoting and building a child friendly community, including individual community members and service providers.

Included are tips on holding community forums and focus groups, steps to mapping community assets, worksheets to guide stakeholders in assessing how child-friendly the community is, plus tools for developing action plans and evaluating the results.

As toolkit authors Rona Sterling-Collings and Romona Baxter write, "While families continue to be the centre for child development, there are ongoing social and structural challenges that Aboriginal children and families face on a daily basis. ... This kit is about working to create more opportunities for young children in your community and strengthening community supports for children and their families."

Copies of the toolkit are available for download, or through the Society for Children and Youth.