From our humble beginnings, serving a handful of children in the initial year, the Child Development Centre now annually assists approximately 1200 children and their families. Outreach services are provided to children in Mackenzie, McBride and Valemount. Reflecting its expanding mandate, the society changed its official name to the Child Development Centre of Prince George and District Association in 2009. And in 2017, the Centre celebrated 50 years of service.
Our vision for the future includes implementing of the Province’s first service network for children with special needs. This network would provide tremendous benefits to the region’s children and their parents, including the added benefit of simplified pathways to service; parents could access the services of several providers through a single referral. We envision this network offering service from a number of locations throughout the City, including the Hart, College Heights, and at least one additional location in Prince George. Although this is a daunting project, it holds the promise of substantial service enhancements. At least three service networks have been implemented to great effect in other regions of Canada, including the following two networks in Ontario:
Beyond Prince George, the CDC provides outreach services to Mackenzie, Valemount, and McBride — locations where we have also developed excellent working relationships with local agencies. We are currently working toward developing an enhanced, outreach video conferencing initiative in cooperation with the Northern Health Authority. The proposed program will include distance mentoring for developmental professionals, as well as enhancing our outreach services with additional distance services for children with developmental challenges and their parents.