Manitoba's Commitment to Children and Families

The Province of Manitoba, through the National Child Benefit, Early Childhood Development Initiative and provincial support, has developed a continuum of programs and services for children and families including:

Healthy Child Manitoba - Government and communities working together for children

• Healthy Baby - Assists income-eligible pregnant women to meet their extra nutritional needs and provides community-based support services.
• BabyFirst - Provides a three-year home visiting program for newborns and their families.
• Parent-Child Centred Approach - Brings resources together through community coalitions across the province to support parenting, improve children's nutrition and literacy, and build capacity for helping families in their own communities.
• STOP FAS - Three-year mentoring program for women at risk of having a child with fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol effects (FAS/FAE).
• Early Start - Enhances children's readiness to learn prior to school entry through a three-year home-visiting program for families with children with special social needs currently attending licensed child care.
• Health Educators (Nurses in Schools) - Bridges health and education to improve the wellness of children and families.
• Adolescent Development - Supports healthy adolescent development, including initiatives for adolescent pregnancy prevention.

Contact us: For more information about Healthy Child Manitoba programs, you can call 1-888-848-0140 (toll-free).

Manitoba Family Services and Housing

• Child Day Care - Since April 2000, funding for Manitoba's child care program has increased by over 27 per cent, improving salaries for early childhood educators and providing additional subsidies for children. Increased funding has also been provided to integrate more children with disabilities into the child care system, and to expand the number of licensed child care spaces.
• Building Independence - Manitoba has increased supports for parents on income assistance to enter or re-enter the labour market and has increased basic income assistance rates for young children and allowances for school supplies. Job centre supports and work incentives have also been enhanced.
• Children's Special Services - Community-based services are provided to an increased number of families to support children with a mental and/or physical disability in their own homes.

Manitoba Education, Training and Youth

• Early Childhood Development Initiative (ECDI) - Assists to facilitate preschoolers' readiness to learn prior to school entry.
• Early Literacy - Accelerates literacy development of the lowest-achieving students in Grade 1.
• Workforce Attachment - Provides low-income parents with training and employment services to help them find and keep a job. More information is available in the Manitoba Human Services Guide.

Contact us: For more information about these programs, contact Manitoba Family Services and Housing, Policy and Planning Branch at 1-204-945-4138 (collect calls will be accepted), or consult the Manitoba Human Services Guide.