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Community shares responsibility of helping children thrive: OKN by Julia Le Oakville Beaver Staff Health 45 | Thursday, May 19, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" The entire community -- including government, and businesses -- share the responsibility of helping children thrive, said Our Kids Network (OKN) director Elena DiBattista. "We know it takes a village to raise a child and that's really the premise of our work," she said at a recent Halton Region's Health and Social Services Committee meeting. DiBattista was there to update the committee on OKN and its work in the community. OKN is a Halton-wide partnership of more than 90 agencies and organizations serving children, youths and their families. It has eight protocol partners: the Children's Aid Society of Halton; Halton District School Board; Halton Regional Police Service; Halton Catholic District School Board; Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK); Halton Region; ErinOakKids; and the Halton Multicultural Council (HMC). These partners, along with the agencies, work together on OKN's mission to promote the healthy development, security and safety of all children, youths and families through collective action. `Halton 7' DiBattista said `Halton 7' has been created to outline seven conditions the community should keep at top-of-mind for the well-being of children, families, and the community as a whole. They are: · Children are healthy; · Children are learning; · Children are positively connected; · Children are safe; · Families are strong and stable; · Schools are connected to the community; · Neighbourhoods are where we live, work and play. "Our Kids is an organization there to support that work. To be that backbone -- that strong, yet flexible backbone that focuses on key issues that really ensure that our community moves forward supporting children, youths and families," she said. Ou Kids is an organization there to support that work. To be that backbone -- that strong, yet flexible backbone that focuses on key issues that really ensure that our community moves forward supporting children, youths and families. Our Kids Network director "accurate snapshot of our communities and how our kids and families are doing," she said. Residents can also access OKN's community hubs located in Acton, Aldershot and Milton. Each hub has a team of local agencies and organizations that plan for the community's development and acts as local resource to families, schools and others. Encouraging community to invest in kids DiBattista said OKN plays an active role in encouraging the community to invest in "our kids." It prepares a community profile of Halton children's results from early development instrument (EDI) assessments, which have been conducted every three years since 2003 in all publicly-funded schools. EDI measures children's development in five key areas -- physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development and communications and general knowledge. see Developmental on p.47 Elena DiBattista OKN evolved over the years Providing research and communications support, OKN has evolved over the years to be the one-stop for parents to get all the information they need whether on child care, special programs and more, DiBattista said. 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