In May of this year, the BC Ministry of Health announced an expansion of the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Coupon Program, commencing with the summer 2018 market season. The program is designed to help lower-income British Columbian residents, and expectant mothers, gain access to healthy, locally-grown food.
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Jordan’s Principle is about ensuring First Nations receive the services they need when they need them. The First Nation’s Health Authority has produced a Fact Sheet on how Jordan’s Principle works in BC.
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On March 16, 2018, $10aDay Child Care posted a review of the B.C. Budget 2018 investment in child care on their website, welcoming the progress towards the key recommendations of the $10aDay Plan.
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A recent CBC News article highlights the challenges for women giving birth in rural areas. The report focuses on Fort Nelson, BC, where women are being asked to sign an agreement to make arrangements for delivering their babies at alternative medical facilities due to local staffing issues. This particular instance is part of a widespread issue in rural areas across Canada, as difficulties in attracting and retaining doctors cause significant challenges in accessing medical services.
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The BC Ministry of Children and Family Development is making a one-time $500,000 investment to enable Perinatal Services BC and BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre to increase the availability of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), an innovative skin-to-skin attachment program, for at-risk and premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
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Infant Mental Health Promotion (IMHP) launched a Call to Action: On Behalf of Maltreated Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers in Canada at the beginning of May 2017 at the Expanding Horizons Conference in Ontario, declaring that collective action is crucial to ensure all our babies have optimal social and emotional health.
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The American Association for the Advancement of Science focused on new child development research at its February 2017 meeting, looking at ways to address the “word gap” for at-risk children that has been identified as a challenge to school readiness.
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The Federal Government is changing its health policy to begin paying for someone to travel with Indigenous women who need to leave their communities to give birth. This comes after recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to recognize the state of Indigenous health.
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Today’s grandparents are relied upon to provide child care and financial support, and are more likely to live with the grandchildren than they used to be, maintaining longer relationships with their grandchildren than was common in the past. A BC Council for Families explores the current realities of grandparent involvement for children in BC.
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The BC Representative of Children and Youth released a report in March 2017 calling for new funding models to encourage different outcomes. The report calls for a comprehensive re-think of how the province delivers services to youth and children in Indigenous communities that takes into account the unique needs of their communities and the lingering impacts of historical policies.
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Nine organisations involved with education in BC have sent an open letter to the provincial government calling for action on issues around education standards, capacity, and school safety.
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The BC Council for Families has partnered with SPARC BC to produce a series of infographics about family demographics in regional districts across BC using the results of their 2015 Let’s Talk Families BC! survey.
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The $10aday childcare campaign is currently running a petition and is planning a week of action at the beginning of March.
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The EDI BC: 2016 Provincial Report explores patterns and trends in early child development outcomes in BC through the use of EDI data.
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The findings of the 2015-16 CAPC-CPNP and Associated Activities Evaluation completed in March 2016 have recently been made available.
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In partnership with the BC Health Coalition, First Call has set up a petition to ensure quality neonatal care coverage through MSP for Canadian-born infants in BC whose parents have precarious immigration status.
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