Handicapped Children's Services is a provincial program designed to support the families of children with disabilities to maintain their children at home. Recently, the government of Alberta has shifted responsibility and authority for the implementation of this program to regionally based Child and Family Services Authorities.
This study examined Handicapped Children's Services from four perspectives. First, the legislation establishing the program was reviewed. Secondly, the program policy supporting the program was explored. Thirdly, the practice of workers in Handicapped Children's Services was examined. Finally, the experience of families who use the program was probed. The multiple perspectives were included in order to explore Handicapped Children's Services from legislation and policy to the experience of families.
This study looked at the implementation of Handicapped Children's Services in one of the eighteen regions of the province. The examination suggests that a program, which is solidly based in legislation and policy, is not being implemented in accordance with the principles, values and desired outcomes on which it was established.
Workers implementing the program, as well as the families using the program, have much to offer in the way of input. The challenge is to the regional authorities and their willingness to incorporate that input into future action.
The applicability to other jurisdictional areas within Alberta is considered. As Alberta continues to embrace community governance, every opportunity should be taken to learn from those regional jurisdictions that have begun to incorporate this model of governance. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/9067 |
| Date | 14 February 2018 |
| Creators | Crocker, Cheryl Lynn |
| Contributors | Ferguson, Roy |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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