Barrhead & District Family and Community Support Services Society provides preventative programs and services that strive to enhance and strengthen individuals, families, and the community.
Image

About Us

Barrhead & District Family and Community Support Services has been in existence for over 50 years. It became a Society on November 26th, 1997, and a charitable organization on January 1st, 1999. This allows us to provide additional services and programs beyond the FCSS mandate to the community, and allows us to fundraise and accept donations. 

For more information about FCSS’s mandated programs please check out the FCSSAA website and the Government of Alberta FCSS information.

Look under the “Additional Resources” heading on our website for the links to the FCSSAA and Government of AB information. 

Placeholder Image
Placeholder Image

What is FCSS?

The Barrhead & District Family and Community Support Services Society is a unique 80/20 funding partnership between the Government of Alberta and participating municipalities or Metis Settlements. Provincially, the FCSS program receives its mandate from the Family and Community Support Services Act and Regulation. The Regulation set out the service requirements of broad parameters that a municipality or settlement must meet to be eligible to establish a program and enters into an agreement with the Government of Alberta to jointly fund projects and/or services. Under FCSS, communities design and deliver social programs that are preventive in nature to promote and enhance well-being among individuals, families and communities. These programs depend on community resources, often involving volunteers in management and delivery.

The FCSS philosophy is based on a belief that self-help contributes to a sense of integrity, sell-worth and independence. Programs developed are intended to help individuals in their community to adopt healthy lifestyles, thereby improving the quality of life and building the capacity to prevent and/or deal with crisis situations should they arise.

One of the key principles of the FCSS Program is local responsibility in priority setting and resource allocation. FCSS emphasizes local decision-making for programming based on the belief that communities have the desire, energy and resources to build community capacity. Each municipality or Metis Settlement therefore determines how the dollars they receive should be allocated to best meet local needs.

Barrhead & District Family and Community Support Services Society is committed to providing social support services that enhances the well-being of individuals and families through prevention and early intervention. In 2020, these services were provided by Barrhead & District FCSS Society.

Image
Image
Image
Image

At Barrhead & District FCSS Society, our commitment to provide quality programs responsive to the community needs relies on the dedicated staff of the FCSS Department and our partners. Collectively we strive to:

  • Help people to become independent, help strengthen their coping skills, and become more resistant to crisis.
  • Help people develop interpersonal and group skills which enhances positive relationships among people.
  • Promote and facilitate the development of stronger communities.
  • Enrich and strengthen family life by developing skills for people to function more effectively within their environment.
  • Provide supports that help sustain people as active participants in the community, and
  • Help people to develop an awareness of social needs.