Family centres are community resources that provide services to parents, children, and spouses.
Family centres exist to provide need-based aid to families affected by a range of events, including death, physical and mental illness, divorce, unemployment, child abuse and child neglect. They have been created by different local government departments, or by different agencies, in order to fulfill three basic functions:
- Social services
- Education
- Training
The social services initiative focuses on creating better relationships within the family, providing preventative services to children in need or at risk, and providing companionship to seniors. The Education initiative focuses on improving the interaction between families and the local schools as well as providing remedial facilities to children. The training initiative focuses on providing parenting and job training classes.
Services
Family centers typically include a range of services intended to help families, particularly in poverty-stricken areas. They typically focus on improving communications between family members, and between family members and social service organisations. Centres often encourage their clients to participate in volunteer work and assist them in doing so. Many family centres are intended to be a safe space for families that are frequently in a crisis mode. The centres are intended as a place of stability and support, and include mediation training and services.
Specific services include daycares, classes, and activities.
There are three typical approaches used by individual family centres. The social service approach focuses on supporting families, including offering classes and activities and counseling for those who want it. The education approach focuses on teaching families to navigate the social service and school systems. The training approach focuses on providing skills to family members. Despite these different focuses, the goals are typically the same, and usually involve teaching families better ways to communicate with each other and society.