Family Place removing barriers for families

April 15, 2025

Operating for the past 30 years, Family Place offers an ever-growing number of programs for families in all four counties on the island. In Inverness County, five staff work out of an office in Inverness, while another five based in Lennox Passage, Richmond County, often provide services in communities in the southern end of the county, like Judique and Creignish.

JoAnna Latulippe-Rochon, the centre’s executive director, says regardless of the program offered, the focus is always on removing the barriers that may prevent families from accessing their services.

“It’s about looking at social determinants of health and looking at making every effort we can to reach people that might have the most barriers,” she explains. “Maybe you’re living in a remote rural community, and if you are, then we’re trying to move our staff closer to you, rather than the burden being on you to come to an office where you would find us.”

Latulippe-Rochon encourages anyone looking to access the centre’s services to check out their website at familyplace.ca where they’ll find a schedule of events for their county, as well as a list of home childcare centres that are operating.

Family Place currently supports family home childcare operations in 21 communities throughout Cape Breton, including Margaree and Port Hood. Parents can find their local service provider on a list on the centre’s website, but Latulippe-Rochon says anyone interested in offering childcare in their home need only contact the centre and they’ll receive support, whether it be educational or financial.

“Our consultants walk you through the whole process, so you don’t have to have any previous experience,” she says. “Many of our home care providers have an early childhood education. Even for those who don’t, there’s a one-year program at no cost to the person operating the home that everyone goes through once they’re approved.”

Family Place has grant money available to anyone wanting to provide childcare in their home, whether it’s to create a fenced-in area in their backyard, purchase child-size tables to feed the children, or even to buy books or play resources.

“We know that it’s a beautiful model of care,” Latulippe-Rochon notes. “For some children, they do better in a small group than in a larger traditional childcare centre. For children of mixed ages belonging to the same family, parents like to have their eight-year-old cared for after school in the same place as their three-year-old is being cared for all day.”

She says all operations supported by Family Place are fully regulated, and that too provides parents with peace of mind, knowing their children are being properly cared for.

“Some of our smaller communities don’t have the numbers of children that would sustain a centre-based care, but they want the comfort of knowing that it’s regulated care, that the menu follows Canada’s Food Guide, that there’s checks and balances in place to make sure the children are following the regulations in terms of their outdoor time,” she explains.

“Parents like to know that those checks and balances are in place for the level of care.”

Latulippe-Rochon says Family Place is committed to providing all the services it can to families in Inverness County, and that parents need only reach out to the centre to start that conversation.

“The services in that area that we are really known for would be the play group programs, and music and movement programs that we offer throughout the different communities,” she says. “The kinds of things that are maybe less known would be pre-natal support. That pre-natal program can be a home visitprogram or a small group if we have enough people expecting who are living relatively close together.”

She says what makes the centre’s pre-natal program different is that it not only educates parents on how to promote baby’s health but will also provide them with the resources to do it.

“So, every week, if it’s a group program, people leave with the food supplements,” she says. “And if it’s a home visit, those supplements are brought directly to the home by our staff person.”

Latulippe-Rochon says the centre employs the same approach to its emergency preparedness programs, helping to make sure parents have what they need in any emergency.

“Most people are aware that the expectation is that you’re able to take care of your needs for 72 hours,” she says. “When we do our emergency preparedness sessions, everybody who comes to the session would leave with the emergency kit, because we know people may be struggling to meet their basic needs.”

“When we do our programs, we’re trying to both have conversations and help people feel better prepared, but we’re also trying to add to that the practical elements, so that when people walk away, they are better prepared.”

Go to familyplace.ca today, to discover the wonderful array of family-centred programs and services provided to parents and caregivers throughout Cape Breton Island!