Hi. I'm Sue Khazaie. I manage early childhood and family resource programs at Abbotsford Community Services and am a director of the board of CAPC, Community Action Programs for Children, in British Columbia.
What is CAPC? CAPC is a program that's funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada to support young families with children under the age of six. It's those families that I'm here to talk about today.
I'm here to ask two things.
I'm so pleased that I'm following Susan Harney, because in Canada we need a comprehensive system that addresses the needs of young children and their families, and part of that, a critical part of that, is child care, as Susan has so eloquently said. However, another part of it, the part that I want to focus on today, is how we support parents to raise healthy children and to have their needs met in a way that creates a society where children thrive.
CAPC has been around a while. It's a program that is targeted at vulnerable families, young families. Originally, at its inception, it was designed to address families in crisis and to prevent unintentional injury. It has grown to look at the social determinants of health, to create opportunities for families to gain the skills they need to have to ensure their children succeed, and to draw in those families who are vulnerable and struggling. We are looking at the at-risk populations in the community. Seventy-five per cent of the families participating in CAPC programs live in conditions that would compromise or challenge their ability to parent their children successfully.
CAPC is an upstream investment. It's a prevention focus. It addresses the problems that families might have before they occur and gives them the tools and the skills to succeed so they can raise healthy children. It leverages resources in our communities so that the funding we get from the federal government is only part of the resources we apply to the issue at hand. Our communities rally around these programs tremendously. We have things where there's food contributed or where there are people who make quilts for others. We engage volunteers and the business sector in a number of ways. People want to support the young children of their communities to thrive.
CAPC programs look different in different communities, because when the funding came to communities, the communities were told to address the gaps they had in the community and to identify the specific needs of their families. So this looks different in each community. Having said that, I note that they all address vulnerability for children and families.
What do we know about vulnerability?
We're really lucky to have Paul Kershaw here today, who is one of Canada's leading authorities on early childhood vulnerability. I encourage you to listen to him. He will be able to make the point much more eloquently than I can.
But what we do know is that Paul and his colleagues have been looking at vulnerability in this province. There's been a tremendous increase in recent years in young children entering school not ready to learn. They're not ready to learn, not because of biological circumstances but because the opportunities to learn in early childhood have not been available to them. We have not provided them with an environment that nurtures them appropriately.
We know that children who aren't ready to learn when they enter school are more likely to continue to be struggling with situations of risk. It's something that we as Canadians cannot afford to miss--an opportunity now where we have approximately 212,000 young children under the age of five in British Columbia who deserve our best.
Today I'm asking you to please consider a comprehensive system that addresses the needs of young children and their families in Canada. Secondly, remember, CAPC programs are our successful initiative, and they are making a difference for the young children and families they serve.
In Abbotsford, with the funding I receive for CAPC programs from the federal government and the provincial contribution, I have $45 per year per child. My opportunity to make a significant impact is limited. I ask you to consider that when you're making your budget allocations and increase that funding so that we can indeed make a difference for the children who deserve it.
Thank you.