The Block Parent Program ''( French: Le Programme Parents-Secours)'' is a large, volunteer-based,

child safety Child protection (also called child welfare) is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, abandonment, and neglect. It involves identifying signs of potential harm. This includes responding to allegations or suspicions ...

and

crime prevention Crime prevention refers to strategies and measures that seek to reduce the risk of crime occurring by intervening before a crime has been committed. It encompasses many approaches, including developmental, situational, community-based and crimin ...

program operating across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Participants in the program (''Block Parents'') place signs on their homes indicating that the house is a police-screened, safe home for community members in distress, particularly children. If someone is in need of help and sees a block parent sign, they know there is someone home who can help them and call the appropriate

emergency service Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety, security, and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while oth ...

if necessary. The program, which included 300,000 participants in its heyday, is in decline. RCMP detachments in

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and

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

have abandoned the program, as have local police in major centres including

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and

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. Participation declined from 253,000 homes in 1995 to approximately 25,000 in 2013. Factors in the decline include fewer parents at home (as more join the outside workforce), a greater reliance on mobile telephones or other communication technologies as an alternative to seeking assistance from neighbours, and more onerous police background checks in the post-

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era.

History

The program began in

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in 1968. Independent programs began appearing across Canada until 1983 when a national committee was formed and the national Block Parents Program of Canada was created in 1986. The first school affiliated with the Block Parent program was Arthur Stringer Public School on Shaftesbury Avenue in London, Ont. Block Parent programs happened in the United States as far back at the late 1960s. The three known locations were San Diego and San Jose, California and Boise, Idaho. The signs placed in windows at that time were orange or white square, approximately 12x12 inches, with a large black 'X'. Homeowners would place their signs on the window pane, leaning against their window, with the 'X' facing the street.

Local and regional decline

Some provinces and communities are discontinuing or proposing to discontinue the Block Parent program, for various reasons. Occasionally, regional programs have been revived after shutting down. * In March 2005 the

Block Parent Society asked volunteers to remove the signs from homes. * In

in November 2006, the Block Parent Program was discontinued because it was "unable to recruit a provincial executive". * The program was discontinued in 2003 in the City of

and in 2008 in the City of

. * In the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, the number of participating homes when the program began in the area was over 3,000. Participation suffered an enormous decline until recently by more than 50%. There were less than 1,500 homes involved in the program, and many positions such as event coordinator and treasurer were not filled. This decrease has been attributed to the police checks that are now required for program applicants and those already participating. These factors nearly caused the program in the region to shut down in February 2009 until a group of volunteers revived it.

References

External links

Block Parent Program of Canada
Child-related organizations in Canada Civil crime prevention Child safety Organizations based in Barrie {{Canada-org-stub

History

Local and regional decline

See also

References

External links