The Resource Consultation Team at the Humber Child Development Centre consists of five resource consultants and one registered nurse consultant working under the Every Child Belongs (ECB) service model for the City of Toronto.
The team promotes the inclusion, growth, and development of children with extra support needs in licensed child care programs through individual, program and training consultations. The registered nurse consultant works specifically to support resource consultants that have children with medical needs on their caseloads.
During pre-COVID times, a consultant would complete observations in local child care programs, give strategies and recommendations, develop support plans, meet with families, facilitate trainings, create resources, connect with other professionals involved in the child's care (e.g. speech pathologists) and more.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all services provided by the team shifted to a virtual delivery format. During the child care closures, the team responded to the needs of the community by developing and facilitating virtual trainings, including infection prevention and control, self-care, communication skills, toilet training and more. The team also supported families through developing weekly tip sheets with at-home activity ideas based on the age of the children.
Despite the barriers experienced by the virtual delivery format, the team was able to support a total of 142 children and provided trainings to more than 2,300 participants, far exceeding the year-end target of 300.
In addition to supporting children and centres on caseload, the consultants supported more than 30 field placement students in Humber's Inclusive Resource Practice and Nursing programs.
The team is commended by their community for their adaptability and flexibility demonstrated throughout the pandemic.