A profile of child, youth, and family health in Grey Bruce has been created.
The Grey Bruce Children’s Alliance prepared the profile based on determinants of health that contribute to overall well-being such as social and economic factors.
Alliance Member — and Executive Director of the Children’s Aid Society of Bruce County — Shaun Jolliffe says poverty remains a major concern.
He says children living in poverty have higher risk factors related to both their health and educational outcomes.
There are about 24 hundred children in Grey Bruce living in poverty or 7 per cent.
Alliance Co-Chair and Director of Service at Keystone Child, Youth, and Family Services Jennifer Sells says there’s also a lower level of income across Grey Bruce.
The median family income in Bruce County is 56 thousand dollars and in Grey County it’s 51 thousand – both well below the provincial median of 69 thousand.
Alliance Co-Chair and Superintendent of Student Services with the Bluewater District School Board Lori Wilder says the alliance will continue to focus on poverty.
Other priority areas include the accessibility of services, prevention services for school aged children, the equity of and local access to specialized services, and supports for youth at risk.
The profile will be used to guide the Alliance’s work over the next few years in how they respond to areas where child and youth health is vulnerable.
The Alliance is a partnership of 19 organizations that provide services and supports to children, youth, and families in Grey Bruce.
A detailed copy of the profile is available by contacting them.
