Home Visitation provides in-home parenting education and family support services to expectant parents and those with children from newborn to the age of six. Trained Family Mentors provide families with information and support that helps them improve their parenting skills to provide a safe nurturing environment for their children. Family Mentors encourage a parent-led experience while providing recommendations based on leading practices.
Home visitation services need to meet different levels of required support. While some families need support with child development information other families need targeted support to help overcome significant adversity. Above all, home visitation is responsive, flexible, and goal-oriented.
The benefits can vary from family to family, but include the following:
Our Family Mentors are flexible to the needs of the family, whether that is weekly, biweekly or monthly visits. First, you will need to submit a request, then our Family Mentorship Supervisor will contact you to discuss which is the best plan of action for your family.
In this Home Visitation-Family Mentorship program, our Family Mentors will come to your home and bring age-appropriate activities that encourage development in language, fine and gross motor, cognitive, social, and emotional skills. In addition to this, they provide regular screening using the Ages and Stages tool for assessing milestones. Click here for more information on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Our Family Mentors also follow up with any additional ideas or referrals as needed between the visits.
Our Family Mentors availability is Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. in addition to some Saturdays.
During COVID-19 we have modified visits outside of your home or in a nearby park available, weather permitting. When visits occur in the home all public health guidelines will be honoured. These visits still include activities and resources. A phone call visit with suggested activities and email resources is also available.
The program is subsidized by different funders with different levels of prevention and intervention. The assessment of protective and risk factors is done to determine the complexity of support needed. The program primarily services Southeast, Southwest and West Edmonton network areas, but we still provide support outside of these areas.
We are a proud member of the Alberta Home Visitation Network Association.