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a 4 » Childrens aid seeks caring people for volunteer prograrn Betty is a very isolated girl. She is now in a foster home and no longer. has contact with her natural parents. She has been in many different homes in her nine years. She has a problem relating to people . because of her many moves and her mothers lack of love for her. She now. needs special treatment to help her work through her difficul- ties. The nearest clinic is 15 miles away. Her foster mother doesn't drive. She needs someone who will be both a friend and a driver. If she isn't able to keep her clinic appointments her fos- ter placement may break down. This story is told by staff of the Family and Childrens Services branch of the Ontario County Childrens Aid Society as part of its current campaign to obtain more volunteers to assist in a "new program of the society. The new program is headed by Bev. Muir of Port Perry. It is Bev's job to recruit volunteers who really care about children, and to train them to help. She says there is a particular need for volunteers from the Port Perry and Uxbridge area. The volunteers program started on a trial basis last June. Volunteers are invol- ved in a variety of jobs ranging from baby sitting to family visiting. Since June volunteers have worked 550 hours and driven more than 5,565 miles. Bev Muir says the greatest need is for drivers. 'Just the driving is terrific," she explains. "We have one child who has to se a doctor in Toronto. The return trip takes 4 hours. Add to this the doctors time and the social workers day is about gone." She says that a volunteer could do this type of driving and leave the professional free time to spend more time on case work. The society pays milage to take care of gas for Lewis -- child welfare his only interest Kids are more important "than political hassles, 'says Children's Aid director, Bernard Lewis. Lewis says he's in favor of changes in the Society's boundaries under region- alization, but he's not in favor of it becoming a regional body. Even at that, he says he doesn't expect the board of directors of the Society to submit a brief to the province. The Society is set up to deal with the problems of children and families, he says, and should not get involved in the politics of its function under regional government. Lewis says he disagrees with Whitby's proposal to the province that the Society become a regional body because it will lose its flexibility and its ability to come up with new ideas in dealing with family pro- belms. The services provided by the society should be kept at the local level and accessible to the citizens, he says, especially since the provin- cial trend is to de-centralize in certain areas. He also feels that if made a regional body the cost of the services will go up. What- ever changes are brought about under the regional' system, Lewis says the Society will offer any help it can because "we're not interested in trying to hang on to eur owf structure." The main thing, he says, is CEMENT *1.55 per bag PECIALS 4' x 8' good one side SOLID BACK HeosOw FUEL and LUMBER Phone 985- 795 1 that "'we feel the Children's Aid should remain a private corporation with a board of directors, financed mainly by the province with some municipal funding." Another reason for keep- ing it a municipal operation, he says, is because there is more citizen involvement and concern with what happens to the children, whereas if it becomes regional, people tend to be concerned with other things. "There are a lot issues concerning the municipal- ities," he says, 'and things like child welfare might not get the attention they should have." The role of the Society will be to re-structure itself to the regional concept once the political decisions have been made, says Lewis. This will mean the Oshawa-Ontario County unit co-operating with the staff at the Port Hope unit to form a larger service capable of meeting any new demands. There can be benefits under a regional system, he says. Society doing things it can't do now through such reasons as shortage of manpower. This could include speciali- zing more in certain aspects of child welfare. The main thing is the two units getting together to develop a regional child welfare policy instead of the. existing two, to better cope with the overall situation. %"" MAHOGANY PLYWOOD *6.50 sheet Port Perry It could mean the volunteers. Bev points out that a number of children have to visit the clinic at the Sick Childrens Hospital in Tor- onto regularly. That clinic, she says is so busy that it almost whole day. "A volunteer driver leaves the social worker more time to spend with the client personally," she says. Volunteer drivers are also needed to help the mother shop or visit her own doctor and to just take one parent children on the occasiofal excursion. COMPANIONS The society also needs people to act as companions. Unlike big brother and big IEE a takes a workers wudsdinll ds ibiosinmnniidii sister programs the com- 'panion activities of the society also serve the parents. Bev. points out that many of the children she is concerned about have no fathers, and the mothers sometimes want help with everything from budgeting to discipline. However, no lonely men need apply. Bev. says she usually starts people who * want to serve as companions off as drivers, then when she has had a chance to observe and screen them they may be promoted to companion status. Companions are also needed for children who are in institutions. "We get a few students BE LE . PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, April 18th, 1973 -- 11 who think they want to go into social work when they graduate,and they volunteer for the experience," says Bev Muir. "We use them as companions. SENIOR CITIZENS HELP 700 Senior citizens are helpful as tutors, Bev says. Often retired people have skills that would be helpful to someone who is having difficulty with household maintenance (such things as stopping taps from leaking), and they can pass these along. Other seniors enjoy baby- sitting while a mother shops (continued on page 20) ANNOUNCEMENT 3 =e RALSTON PURINA OF CANADA LTD. appoints BERTRAND FARMS as the UXBRIDGE AREA PURINA DEALER Bev Muir - - Supervi- sor of volunteers Ontario County Child- ren's Aid Society. For Bag and Bulk Service call Allan Bertrand (416) 985-3055 or Hank Bertrand (416) 852-3745 -+ I No. 12 Hwy. Q° <& © 7th CONC LOCATION OF BERTRAND FARMS. .. ession ¥ North | Low Cost Production . OOBERTRAND FARMS . . the reason why more farmers feed PURINA® PURINA Uxbridge CYS A ee PR, ARES ak gt TR PIA Re a bY a = dr Ti Fo gor Eo A yg 5 > ne os LA ana SNE EEE t < a RS . ERIE Ee": bebe Gey "