About the project:
The Participants' Voices project has brought the voices of Family Resource Program (FRP) participants to the evaluation table. The project goal was to create an evaluation tool based on what users say is valuable about their programs, and to make the tool available to FRPs across Canada.
From September 2002, until Spring 2004 we talked to a diverse sample of over 200 parents, caregivers, and grandparents attending FRPs across the country. The FRP Participants' Voices project has worked closely with a local Steering Committee and a National Advisory Panel, including representatives from MAFRP, OAFRP, FRP Canada, parents, and practitioners from the different regions across Canada. This consultation has ensured that both the project's activities and the evaluation tool reflect the principles of family support, and are relevant to FRPs across Canada.
Excerpts from the report:
The everyday experiences of participating in FRPs reveal multiple levels of engagement, leading to outcomes of value and significance. We have tried to capture these experiences through the interview process, and in this way sought to understand the essence of Family Resource Programs. The research process has provided us with an appreciation of the far-reaching outcomes of this inclusive, communitiy-based model of services for children and families. We hope that we have conveyed these experiences in the portraits presented in the companion volume, A Place to Go. This volume presents an evaluation tool, and a theoretical overview of the practice themes on which the tool is based. The tool consists of 35 indicators organized thematically and identified through the analysis of interviews with participants of FRPs across Canada.