2025–2026 Services delivered: Young Parent and Child Development
Services Delivered: Young Parent and Child Development
Legislation: Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017
Program / Service Features:
The Program/Services funded by the ministry will reflect the following features:
People served
The Young Parent and Child Development program serves pregnant and/or parenting youth up to 25 years old at intake with an identified parenting, health, social, emotional, economic, and/or education support need, their infants and/or children. Parenting youth may receive services up to age 29.
Specific service provided:
The Program/Services delivered by Transfer Payment Recipients will reflect one or more of the following components:
- Attachment-based parenting services and supports: Interventions focused on building safe, positive, nurturing, and responsive parent-child relationships and secure attachment as the foundations to healthy child development including infant and early mental health.
- Psychosocial services and supports: Interventions designed to support the autonomy, competence and well-being of young parents, including independent living and life skills across a range of domains (e.g., finding housing, managing money, building healthy relationships and social skills, understanding child development, developing education/work goals, educational support including outreach and school liaison).
- Children’s Developmental Supports: Interventions focused on supporting healthy physical, cognitive, language and/or socio-emotional development (inclusive of infant and early mental health) in the children of young parents including early identification services such as screening for developmental concerns/delays and referrals to specialized services (e.g., Smart Start Hubs at Children’s Treatment Centres). Services may include respite and child-minding while parents attend other programs including Education and Community Partnership Programs.
- Physical Health Services and Supports: Education and intervention services to support positive health and wellbeing including healthy pregnancy and perinatal health.
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Services and Supports: Interventions including treatment focused on reducing the severity of, and/or remedying, the emotional, social, behavioural, and self-regulation problems of young parents experiencing mental health, trauma and/or addictions challenges.
- Education and Community Partnership Program: Critical support services including one or more of the specialized services listed above delivered to young parents who cannot attend a local school because of their needs for care and/or treatment. The school board provides the educational programming and the ECPP Facility (YPS Transfer Payment Recipient) provides the care and/or treatment services. ECPP Classrooms are provided under authority of the Education Act to deliver educational programs to children and youth. Transfer Payment Recipients enter into an agreement with the Ministry of Education detailing student profiles, staffing ratios, timetable, location and nature and frequency of care, treatment, or support services to be provided during school hours.
- Intake and assessment, service planning, case management, and service coordination, system navigation and referral: Key functions that support the delivery of specialized services listed above. Includes intake processes and identification of strengths, needs and risk, developing an individualized plan of care, case management, service coordination to deliver integrated care (e.g., among multiple services within an agency), and connecting young parents to resources and supports that meet their full range of needs across the social determinants of health through collaboration with a broad range of community partners.
Services may be delivered in a variety of settings including home, community, and out-of-home locations, as well as through a range of service modalities (e.g., group, one-on-one) at an intensity and frequency that aligns with the individualized needs of clients. Community-based out-of-home programs provide accommodation, group care, supervision and supports 24-hours per day in addition to one or more of the specialized services listed above. The provision of services will be informed by evidence to support service quality. This includes evidence-based practice, evaluation findings, the expertise of clinicians and service providers, and the lived experience of young parents and their families.
Program Goals
The goal of Young Parent Services is to optimize healthy growth, development and wellbeing for young parents and their children and support them to realize their potential.
Ministry expectations:
Services will be:
- Reflective and responsive to the needs of the pregnant and/or parenting youth, in the context of the family and community strengths and needs.
- Accountable to the client(s), family, and community.
- Sensitive to the social, linguistic, and cultural diversity of clients, families and Indigenous communities. Services will take into account the client(s)’ ability, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethno-cultural background, and First Nations, Metis, or Inuit identity to support respectful and responsive service delivery to the diverse needs of all clients aligned with the best practices in anti-racism and anti-oppression.
- Staffed by individuals with the appropriate range of skills and abilities necessary to respond effectively to the needs of clients.
- Based on the client(s)’ assessed needs, preferences and available individual, agency, community and contracted ministry resources
In addition, the following minimum expectations apply to licensed residences:
- Service providers must meet all applicable legislative and regulatory requirements.
- Admission to and discharge/transition from out-of-home service occurs on a planned basis where possible, in a manner that promotes continuity of services and is managed with sensitivity, transparency and, as far as possible, respects the preferences of the clients.
Reporting Requirements
Please complete the table below for all Service Outputs your program is tracking.
| Service data name | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ministry-Funded Agency Expenditures: YPCD | Total ministry-funded expenses for the Transfer Payment Recipient to administer and/or deliver Young Parent Services in the Funding Year (cumulative). |
| # of Individuals Served (Unique – Young Parents): YPCD | The unique number of young parents that received Young Parent Services, from the point of intake until transition from service. A young parent is counted only once during the reporting period. |
| # of Individuals Served (Unique – Ages 0 - School-Aged): YPCD | The unique number of children (from birth to school-aged) of young parents that received services, from the point of intake until transition from service. A child is counted only once during the reporting period. |
| # of Families Served: YPCD | The total number of young parent families that received young parent services, from the point of intake until transition from service. A family is counted only once during the reporting period. |
| # of Residential Beds: YPCD | The total number of beds dedicated for use by young parents. Report the maximum number of spaces for overnight stay by residents at the end of the reporting period. This is a snapshot figure. The spaces include beds that are and are not occupied at the time of count. Only include ministry-funded beds directly operated by the Transfer Payment Recipient (not via a third party). |
A supplementary report providing additional information about these services may be required (reporting template and dates to be provided separately).