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Specialized Homes & Support Services is a new way of providing services and contracted staffed care to children and youth, and their families within the province’s network of care. In addition to supporting the safety and well-being of vulnerable children and youth in care, in out of care arrangements, and not in care, SHSS has an important role in supporting the broader work of the ministry and its partners by providing key prevention and early intervention supports – things like respite and relief care, stabilization supports, connection to culture and community, and specialized care. These services help keep families together, help strengthen placement stability, and provide healing opportunities for children and youth.
This new service delivery model is built upon engagement with staff, Indigenous partners, service providers, contract holders, families, interest groups and community members. As we continue to work toward rolling out the various components of the changes in Early Implementation Areas (Okanagan and North Fraser SDAs), we will be continuing our engagement with partners to transition to a future state where services provided by SHSS are used consistently across the province to provide one or more of the following four services:
Respite Care
Respite Care is a family preservation service and is designed to meet the needs of families caring for children/youth with complex needs. It provides carers who have primary care and responsibility for children/youth with a temporary break from the emotional and physical demands of caregiving in order to maintain or improve overall family functioning and well-being. Specialized Homes and Support Services Respite Care is provided outside of the primary carer’s home and is part of a support plan to maintain a child/youth’s living arrangement within the family, and/or keep children/youth out of full-time care.
Emergency Care
Emergency Care provides a safe, supportive short-term (approximately 30 days) placement for children and youth who cannot live safely with their family, for whom no other care arrangement is readily available, and who are in the care of the Director. Children and youth placed in Emergency Care benefit from an environment that supports their health, wellness, culture, and recovery, and that of their family. Emergency Care staff facilitate the assessment of the child/youth/family’s unique needs and circumstances and are involved in the coordination of community supports.
Low-Barrier Short-Term Stabilization Care
Low-Barrier Short-Term Stabilization Care provides a safe environment for children/youth who are experiencing a crisis and/or breakdown of their living environment (family, out-of-care arrangement, or in-care placement). The service is short-term (3-9 months) and focuses on crisis mitigation and healing through a harm-reduction lens by providing the child/youth with culturally safe, individualized supports. Low-Barrier Short-Term Stabilization Care works to prepare a child or youth to transition back home (or to a new living arrangement if required) by reconnecting the child and family with the appropriate community supports to meet their ongoing needs.
Specialized Long-Term Care
Specialized Long-Term Care provides a safe, loving, and nurturing environment for children/youth in-care requiring intense supervision and supports. This home is provided to children and youth with exceptional needs requiring a 24-hour staffed and specialized environment, and for whom all other living arrangements have been deemed unable to provide required level of support.
Indigenous peoples have an inherent right to exercise jurisdiction over their child and family services. The government is working with Indigenous communities while respecting this inherent right. Indigenous Governing Bodies may develop their own child and family services and provide laws for their people.
Coordination and Community Agreements, developed in partnership, effectively exercise their inherent right of self-governance including jurisdiction in relation to child and family services for their children and families.
Please review and refer to the websites below for further information.
Join Mitzi Dean, Minister of Children and Family Development, for an announcement regarding Indigenous child and family welfare.
For SHSS service delivery support, contact your local Resource Team.
For system support within the Specialized Services Portal please contact: