Principles
The following principles guide the KidsFirst NORTH Program operations and decision making:
- Preventative
- KidsFirst NORTH places emphasis on early risk identification and intervention to support child development and wellbeing.
- Comprehensive
- Approaches are holistic, coordinated, and integrated.
- Equitable
- Services are responsive to individual family circumstances.
- Empowering
- Supports are designed to build family and community capacity.
- Culturally Affirming
- Supports are responsive to and respectful of cultural diversity.
- Accountable
- Efficient and effective use is made of formal and informal government and community resources. There is timely, accurate, and transparent reporting in order to monitor program delivery and assess outcomes for families.
- Cooperative, collaborative
- Inclusive processes are used to share responsibilities and support partnerships across sectors in an integrated manner.
- Strength based
- Supports identify and build on the strengths of the family and community.
- Representative
- First Nations and Métis people are represented within the KidsFirst NORTH Program.
- Innovative and Flexible
- New ways of providing services, reflective of promising practices, are sought and developed.
- Voluntary
- Eligible families choose to participate in KidsFirst NORTH.
- Capacity building
- The KidsFirst NORTH Program enhances existing services, identifies gaps, and strengthens partnerships.
- Quality
- Reflection, evaluation, and analysis inform continuous improvement. Standards are tied to evidence-based, promising practices to assure effective, consistently high quality services.