RAISING OUR VOICES FOR CHILDREN!
Advocacy Working Group: Fourth Meeting

Date: Thursday Morning, September 25, 2008

Time Frame: 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Place: Cannon Wood Hall, St. Thomas Church
Military Rd. Across from Fairmont

Doors Open: 8:30 a.m. Session Begins: 9 a.m.

There is no cost. Tea/Coffee and Light Snacks available

Facilitator: Harry Connors, Executive Director, Waterford Foundation

The Alliance is a network of voices to support children in all settings and age groups, especially within families and communities. It grew out of a spring conference with Dr. Bruce D. Perry, an International authority of the effects of early trauma, neglect and abuse on the lives of children. People attending the community lectures and professional development seminars expressed a loud voice of concern - that we know these things about what children need and we need to carry the messages forward/ not let them die. Thus, the Alliance was born.

Around thirty groups have indicated a commitment to moving forward. However, it is time to clarify the Mission, Goals and Objectives of the Alliance before we move into the public arena. This is the purpose of the upcoming workshop.

Come and share your ideas for working together to increase public awareness and advocacy around what children need in order to reach their potential.

Or more information, or to register, please contact:
Melba Rabinowitz, Chair, GEMMA/ melba@nl.rogers.com

“We are talking about Children’s Rights. This is a Justice Issue.”  Ken Barter. March 26, 2008.

The advocacy meetings are a follow-up to the challenging and horrifying evidence offered recently by Dr. Bruce D. Perry, as he argued “If we put more funding into raising babies, we save nine dollars for every one we spend.”  Most of us who have been involved in front line work with children and families know this. We also know we are falling short. That’s why we often go back to our own families and children in the evening, with stomach aches, shoulders hunched and head aches.  Sometimes we also feel like we are abandoning even whole neighbourhoods, as well as families and children.

At the end of the session that followed Dr. Perry's seminar, we heard reports from the 120 practitioners as they read out a description of the resources, situations, services and community infra-structure families and children need and which for the most part are non-existent. At this point, Dr. Ken Barter stood, shaking his head, and issued a challenge that we use Dr. Perry’s visit as a catalyst for a change in the way our province supports our youngest and most vulnerable.

GEMMA will start this challenge by developing an Advocacy Working Group. This group will help create a map for change. GEMMA will provide the communication structure and help with action plans, whether it is future forums, a cabinet paper, a letter writing campaign or a research project on evidence based models. We can use the Website to create a blog, or a RANT page, where you can write about the things you know and experience in the field. But the creativity, energy and passion must come from you, the practitioners, and the people who walk the talk.

Whether you can attend the next meeting or not, each and every person can find a way to make their voice be heard. The first step is to become a member of GEMMA as a sign of solidarity for children’s mental health!  We have already started that movement. One hundred and seventy people attended the Tuesday evening seminar. Almost two hundred arrived at the Health Sciences Auditorium promptly at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning and we had to limit the afternoon session to one hundred and twenty people, due to the space at The Lantern. Let’s keep up this momentum. Dr. Barter is right. Children have waited long enough. Please write, call, e-mail or come to first working group meeting.

Let’s Raise our Voices For Children!  We may not have this opportunity again!!

Melba Rabinowitz, Chair, GEMMA

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Last updated: September 25, 2008