Services

FSIO has a long-standing commitment to increasing professional recognition for everyone working in the family support sector, while maintaining the organic and community-based essence of the profession. FSIO has developed and delivered workshops, courses, conferences, and modules that bridge family support services, theory, and practice to raise both the actual and perceived level of professionalism in the field. As EarlyON Child and Family Centres and Ontario’s Renewed Early Years and Child Care Policy Framework are introduced, FSIO is delivering new learning material across the province in formats suitable for frontline workers and managers, while reducing geographic barriers to participation in professional learning opportunities. All the while, FSIO supports your professional learning through:

• The Essentials of Family Support professional learning workshops
• The FSIO website, a single portal to all matters related to the sector, including a calendar of professional learning opportunities
• E-mails and newsletters that keep you informed and up-to-date
• Assistance with establishing local Communities of Practice
• An online community for those working in the sector
• Learning tailored to local needs, on such matters as engaging parents, building community capacity, and working collectively.

FSIO can assist you with your professional learning goals! Become a member to enjoy all of the professional learning that FSIO offers!

FSIO is committed to reducing barriers so that you can network with practitioners across the province, no matter where you live and work. Programs and practitioners often work in relative isolation with no clear paths to connect them with others in the sector. In this time of change for the sector, it is particularly important for practitioners to exchange knowledge, support, and expertise. Hence, FSIO is dedicated to advancing the way that family support practitioners work by facilitating connections, collaboration, and information-sharing.

FSIO members:

• Form relationships with other professionals (e.g., during attendance at FSIO events attended by individuals from across the province)
• Share experiences and ideas, network, and collaborate through FSIO’s online community
• Develop a greater awareness of what is happening across family supports in Ontario through FSIO’s communications
• Are connected to sectoral leaders

FSIO is a central source for resources on a diverse range of topics to support your practice and professional learning. Family support programs are multipurpose—staff use a strengths-based approach to enhance parents’ and caregivers’ resilience and competence, promote children’s well-being, and otherwise connect families to resources and their community. Accordingly, family support practitioners need to know about the diverse families they are working with, as well as the latest research, emerging practices, and policy developments affecting community services. Staff have diverse educational backgrounds and extensive experience, and they engage in reflection to improve their practice. Yet, there is often limited time and funding for staff to find documents, videos, websites, or other tools that are available to support their practice. This is why FSIO makes it easier for you to access an array of resources through the FSIO website, emails, and newsletters.

FSIO produces and shares resources, including:

• Tools and ideas for program planning
• Journal articles
• Position statements in response to new government policies
• Applications of new pedagogy
• Modules, toolkits, and guides for working with diverse families, including LGBTQ2S and Indigenous families and families experiencing disability
• Advocacy supports
• Adult learning approaches