The ECC Child Care Consultation (CCC) team is part of the City of Toronto Children’s Services Every Child Belongs team of community service providers. The Every Child Belongs model provides individual support, program consultation and training to licensed child care centres or licensed home child care agencies in Toronto through a designated Special Needs Resource (SNR) staff. The SNR staff is assigned to a particular area or group of licensed child care centres.
Enable access to enhanced services coordinated by The City of Toronto, including Intensive Resource Support and Child Care Support Funds
Early identification and intervention
Individual consultation
Information and resources
Program adaptations and environmental assessments
Program consultation
Regular visits to the child care program
Provision of workshop and training sessions
Service coordination and referral to specialized services
Typically, a licensed child care centre or home child care agency will call their assigned SNR Consultant to initiate a referral when a child is showing signs of an emotional, social or behavioural issue and/or developmental/physical concern that is causing an ongoing challenge in that environment.
The SNR Consultant will set up a meeting with the child care centre or home child care agency and the parent/guardian to receive information about the concern. At this meeting, the SNR will provide an explanation of, and orientation to the service (including but not limited to risks and benefits of service, privacy and confidentiality, record keeping and destruction, access to records, and the complaint process). The SNR Consultant will outline the specific activities of the service (e.g. program consultation, individual consultation) and answer any questions or concerns. Once this orientation and explanation is provided, then the SNR will seek parent/legal guardian approval to proceed with consultation. This is referred to as Informed Consent.
Following the above orientation, a more complete intake process is completed by the SNR in conjunction with the parent/legal guardian and child care provider. The intake includes the collection of demographic and contact information and detailed information regarding the identified concerns, needs, strengths and resources. This information is collected in order to provide a high quality coordinated service so that everyone is working together towards a common goal.
If a child care/home childcare centre requires a more intensive level of support, the SNR Consultant is able to access additional Intensive Resource Support services. The Intensive Resource Support staff provides child care centre providers with coaching and modelling of strategies to support children who are presenting with the identified challenges.
For more information please click here to visit The City of Toronto's Children's Services page.
You may also speak directly to your assigned Special Needs Resource Consultant or call the Community Consultation and Counselling Intake Coordinator at (416) 240-1111 ext. 2238.
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