2026–2027 Services delivered: FASD worker/coordinator services

Component: Coordinated Service Planning

Legislation: Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017

Service description

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Coordinators work with children and youth who are or may be living with FASD and their families to provide FASD-informed service navigation and coordination across sectors and build community capacity and awareness of FASD.

People served

For children/youth and their families to be eligible for FASD Coordination Services a child/youth must:

• Be a resident of Ontario and legally entitled to live in Canada
• Be 18 years old or under, or up to the age of 21 if they are in school.

A formal diagnosis of FASD is not required to access FASD Coordination Services, however, the family must be willing to acknowledge the possibility of FASD.

Program/service features

The program is delivered in accordance with the FASD Coordination Services Policy Guidelines (to be released in 2026), and requires the following:

• A single Coordinating Agency in each service delivery area through which families can access FASD Coordination Services for a range of services across sectors
• Dedicated FASD Coordinators, through each Coordinating Agency, who will lead FASD Coordination Services for families of children and youth who are or may be living with FASD by working with their local cross sector partners.
• One FASD Service plan for each child/youth in tier 3 of FASD Coordination Services that considers all their goals, strengths, needs, as well as the services that the child/youth will be receiving.

Specific service provided

FASD Coordination Services are delivered using a tiered service model. Each tier represents a different set of supports to address the different levels of need of children who are or may be living with FASD as well as their families and communities.

Program goals

Services will be

• FASD Informed: FASD Coordinators recognize that FASD is a whole-body permanent disability with wide ranging effects and make child-centred accommodations/modifications to service delivery, enabling the child/youth to achieve positive outcomes.
• Child and Family Centered: Services are founded on values, attitudes and approaches that recognize that each family is unique; the family is the constant in children’s lives, and the family is the expert on their children’s abilities and needs.
• Strength Based: Services are founded on the Favourite Words for Child Development (Function, Family, Fitness, Fun, Friends and Future); they focus on autonomy and what an individual ‘can do’ leveraging their strengths and empowering individuals to achieve their goals.
• Trauma Informed: FASD Coordinators recognize that for children who are or may be living with FASD and their families, past, current, or intergenerational experiences of abuse, violence, victimization, trauma, or stigmatization may be present. Child who are or may be living with FASD may experience traumatic events more deeply; FASD Coordinators work to build trust and positive relationships with the child as well as create physically and emotionally safe environments for them.
• Equitable and Culturally Safer: FASD affects individuals of all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. FASD Coordinators support the diverse needs of families in a culturally safer way, and promote equity, anti-oppression, anti-ableism and anti-racism. They engage thoughtfully with families and equity-deserving groups in ways that recognize and address intersectionality and the inherent power imbalances between service providers and families.
• Collaborative: FASD Coordinators engage as leaders and collaborators within the broader service system partners in the planning and delivery of child- and family-centered services and supports in their communities. They build relationships with families, local cross-sector partners, and equity deserving groups to promote early FASD identification, intervention, and access to services.
• Seamless: FASD Coordinators are leaders and drivers of change within their agencies. They apply a systems lens when coordinating services within their service delivery areas, so that families experience equitable service access and a more streamlined, and integrated service journey, without having to repeat their story.

Ministry expectations

Services are FASD-informed, child-and-family centered, strengths-based, trauma informed, equitable and culturally safer, collaborative and seamless.

The Coordinating Agency is responsible for ensuring the delivery of the FASD Coordination Services Planning Cycle. The responsibilities of the FASD Coordinator include:

Capacity Building

• Providing FASD-informed education and resources to families and local cross-sector partners.

Service Planning

• Providing service to a minimum of 50 children/youth per year;
• Conducting intake assessments to understand the child’s/youth’s and family’s needs, strengths, challenges and goals;
• Providing service navigation support to children who are or may be living with FASD and their families;
• Developing, implementing, and monitoring individualized FASD Service Plans informed by the child/youth and family’s strengths, needs, challenges and goals; and
• Supporting connections to other services, and with consent, sharing information so the family does not have to repeat their story.

Service Delivery

• Supporting children/youth and their families to access FASD diagnostic services (as available) and other necessary supports;
• Working with the family, local cross sector partners, and educators to support the child/youth to build capacity, identify innovative strategies and make adaptations to meet the child’s needs and ensure seamless service delivery; and
• Supporting children who are or may be living with FASD through developmental transitions as well as transitions to school and adulthood.

Cross-Sector Tables

• Working to support local cross-sectoral planning tables to identify gaps and opportunities to increase capacity among service system providers serving children/youth who are or may be living with FASD (e.g. Service Planning Coordinators, rehabilitation service providers, health care providers, educators and providers in the justice sector).

Reporting requirements

The following service data will be reported on at an Interim and Final period. Please refer to your final agreement for report back due dates and targets.