What do these terms mean?             

Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission(AADAC)
AADAC assists Albertans in achieving a life free of substance abuse and gambling, provides prevention services, treatment and after care.

Aboriginal
Descendants of the original inhabitants of the North American continent, which include land based, non land-based, status, non-status, Inuit and Metis people.

Accountability
The obligation to answer for performance on assigned responsibilities.

Advocacy
The process of speaking on behalf of an individual, group or cause, especially when rights or interests or at risk.

Agreements
When a young person has intervention services, one option is to offer service via a voluntary agreement. Agreements are based on negotiations between child workers and families (the exception being for agreements entered into directly with a 16-17 year old). There are two types of agreements:

Support - used when the child needs protection but is able to remain safely in the home.

Custody - used when a child is in need of intervention services and cannot remain safely in the home.

Alberta Family and Social Services
This government department was dissolved in May 1999. Human Resources and Employment and the Ministry of Children Services were created out of this Ministry.

Board (the)
This term used is intended to represent the group of appointed members who will steer, direct, and be accountable for the Authority.

Caregiver(s)
People who provide care/support/assistance to children and families, including, but not limited to foster parents, direct support workers, parent aides, youth workers, club leaders and coaches.

CYIM (New Nov 2004)
Child Youth Information Module. The computer based information system that handles information on child intervention, placement resources, adoptions and post-adoption supports.  It is a provincial based system.

Children
Individuals newborn to 14 years.

Child & Youth Family Enhancement Act
The Child & Youth Family Enhancement Act legislates services for children in need of intervention because of abuse or neglect.  Replaced the "Child Welfare Act" in November 2004.

Client
A person who needs, receives or accesses services.

Community
A group of people with common interests who have developed relationships based upon shared beliefs and social circumstances. A community may be geographical, social, cultural, religious or needs based.

Coordination
Mechanisms for encouraging common action and/or communication among service sectors which remain separate and autonomous but which must act in concert to be truly effective.

Court Orders
Court involvement is pursued in situations where:

• A child has been apprehended.
• Voluntary agreements have been found to not be appropriate.

One potential court hearing outcome is that the judge will order that the child be returned to the parent. The other option is that a Court Order would be granted.

Types of Orders are:

Supervision Order - gives Children Services the authority to supervise the guardian and child in the family home

Temporary Guardianship Order - granted in situations where the child is in need of protective services and is unable to remain at home, but is expected to return home or become independent within a reasonable time

Permanent Guardianship Order - Children's Services is appointed the sole guardian of the child and the parent or other guardian no longer has the right or responsibility to care for the child.

Early Intervention
Actions designed to build on the strengths of children and families, help them to better cope with crises that may occur in their lives, and increase the number of sources of support in their lives.

EIP
Early Intervention Program. Through the Regional Child and Family Service Authorities, this program provides funding for community projects which help children and families before a crisis develops.

FASD/FAE
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders/Fetal Alcohol Effect. The pattern of disabilities among infants born to mothers who consumed excessive amounts of alcohol during pregnancy. Such children may suffer form disabilities such as facial malformation, developmental delays and chronic hyperactivity.

Family
A group of individuals committed to each other through relationship/kinship, interdependency, affection or trust.

FCSS
Family and Community Support Services. A provincial/municipal partnership whose purpose is to improve and strengthen individuals, families and communities by providing services and assisting individuals to identify and act on their own needs.

Goal
The desired end result and gives greater specificity to a vision.

Growing Opportunities
This program takes a proactive approach to health care by ensuring that babies are born healthy. The program, which is funded by Health Canada's Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program, is offered locally via the Health Authority.

Indicators
The way to measure progress toward achieving stated goals and outcomes.

Integrated Services
The bringing together of various services and systems under a common structure.

Organizational Culture
This refers to the values, beliefs, and attitudes that permeate an organization, as well as to more formal components such as policies, procedures and rules. If strategy defines where an organization wants to go, culture determines how - maybe whether - it gets there.

Outcome
Answers the question, "How will we know we've reached our goal?" Some outcomes may be short-term, while others will only be reached in the long term.

Out-of-home Care
Out-of-home care provides places for children to live if they need to be out of the family home while they receive protective services. Protective services staff works to find the place that will best match with the child's needs. Options include:

Foster Care - provides a child with a placement in the private home of the foster family.

Group Care - provides a child with a placement in a small group home operated by professional child care staff.

Residential Treatment - provides a child with a placement in a structured setting, closely supervised by staff from various professions.

Secure Treatment - provides a child, who has been admitted through a legal process, with intense assessment and treatment in a specialized secure setting.

Permanency Planning
A type of strategy that is based on the premise that a sense of permanency is one of the best predictors of a child's well-being.

Prevention
Actions which help children and families to develop and maintain strong, healthy, well-adjusted lifestyles and have the objective of averting crisis.

Resiliency Model
The most promising models in the area of prevention focus on understanding the concepts of risk and protection and how factors in each of these areas interact to enhance resilience. The development of resiliency is the process of healthy personal development - a process in which personality and the environment interact as one dynamic system. (Prevention in AADAC. A Vision for Success January 1996)

Family Support for Children with Disabilities
Family Support for Children with Disabilities is a program of Child & Family Services Authorities which helps families meet some of the extraordinary needs that arise due to their children's disabilities. The program provides funding, information, referral services, and assistance to parents in obtaining and coordinating services for their children.

Rituals
Commonly accepted events and experiences which support, define and assist in the developmental, spiritual, and community changes that occur in the lives of children and families.

Rural Practice
The realities of the rural setting may be fewer specialized resources, long distance travel, lack of transportation to access services.

Strategy
The means to achieve goals and outcomes.

Standards
Minimum levels of supports and services to be provided to children and families across the Province.

Youth
Individuals 14 years to 18 years.