We are thrilled to announce we are the Bridges Family Programs Hub for Medicine Hat, Cypress County and Oyen and surrounding areas. The Hub is part of the Family Resource Network (FRN) through Children's Services. The Family Resource Network supports expectant parents, families, caregivers and communities to support the safety and resiliency of infants, children, youth within nurturing and supportive environments. Programs and services will support child safety, well-being, child/youth development, and strengthen parenting and caregiver knowledge. The Hub will be a center for families who have children 0 - 18 years to access information, referral and service coordination services. We will continue to offer our in-home family support programs - Bridges, Best Babies and Building Blocks through the Hub, along with our FASD Assessment and Support Services and the First Steps program. We also offer parent education courses and groups through our Parent Education program & FASD Connect program. We continue to accept referrals from individuals, families, and community professionals. If you know someone who would benefit from our programs or would like more information about our services, please see below or call 403.526.7473 or toll free at 1.888.756.7473, or visit our website, www.bridgesfamilyprograms.com. Bridges in-home family support services are provided to expectant parents and families needing targeted and intensive supports, who have infants, children and youth under the age of 18 years who reside in Medicine Hat, Redcliff, Cypress County, County of Newell including Brooks, Bassano, Rolling Hills, Duchess, Patricia, Tilley, Scandia, Rosemary, and Oyen including Acadia, Empress, Cereal and surrounding areas, and identify the need for family support services based on identified risk factors (with particular focus on families who have child(ren)/youth ages 7+ years). This service focuses on:
-Supporting families to meet their basic needs;
-Parent/child attachment and the importance of responsive caregiving;
-Supporting the development of healthy relationships by increasing communication within the caregiving/parenting relationships;
-Increasing caregiver health and well-being by supporting them to manage their stressors, cope with challenges and adversity and develop planning, decision-making and problem-solving skills;
-Strengthening caregiver/parenting skills- supporting parents to build skills and the foundation for strong family functioning strengthening, i.e. using a strength-based approach. Families and FSW develop a partnership with focus on what families want and need. FSWs look for and build on caregiver/parental competency and support families to achieve their goals; strengthening and caregiver/parent’s knowledge of child/youth development including age-appropriate expectations;
strengthening families’ well-being; and
connecting families to community resources as needed. FASD Assessment and Support Services (FASS) provides consultation services to individuals and families impacted by FASD who live in Southeast Alberta. FASS facilitates the Regional FASD Neurodevelopmental Diagnostic Clinic. This multidisciplinary team assesses, diagnoses and develops intervention plans for children and adults affected by prenatal alcohol exposure. The First Steps program is a parent-child assistance program for women who are pregnant or have children 12 months or younger and have used alcohol and/or drugs during pregnancy. The goal of this program is to:
-Assist mothers in obtaining treatment, maintaining recovery and resolving the complex issues associated with substance abuse.
-Ensure that the children are in a safe environment and receiving appropriate care.
-Effectively link families with community resources.
-Reduce the numbers of future drug and alcohol impacted children born in this region. Home Visitation Programs (HVP) provide in-home parenting education and family support programming to expectant parents and parents who have children new born to age six, with optimal entry into the program when mom is pregnant or has a child under 3 months of age. The Best Babies program focuses on supporting expectant parents and families who have children under 9 months of age, and the Building Blocks program focuses on supporting families with children newborn to 6 years, but can also support expecting parents if the Best Babies program doesn’t have the capacity to support them. HVPs focus on:
-Strengthening caregiver/parent’s knowledge of child development and development milestones, including age-appropriate expectations;
-Strengthening parenting skills – supporting parents to build skills and the foundation for strong family functioning;
-Strengthening parent/child attachment – cultivate the growth of a nurturing, responsive parent-child relationship;
-Supporting families to meet their basic needs;
supporting the development of healthy relationships;
-Connecting families to community resources as needed;
-Child development screening for developmental delays using Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ-3 and ASQ-SE) with follow up child development activities/strategies and/or referrals as appropriate; and
-Increasing family’s health and well-being. The FASD Connect program provides consultation and advocacy services to families and professionals living within the city of Medicine Hat who are caring and/or working with individuals with confirmed or suspected prenatal alcohol exposure. This includes individualized consultation and advocacy services, as well as group programming for caregivers and children/youth. The Parent Education Program offers parenting groups and classes such as Triple-P, Nurturing Parenting, Grandparents group, Sensory group and more! Programming is open to anyone caring for children 0-18 years old. Please see our Notes section for more detailed information about each of our programs.
