OVERVIEW OF BEST START

There are hundreds of thousands of compelling reasons why the government of Ontario created its Best Start initiative - Ontario 's hundreds of thousands of babies and children. They deserve the best possible start in life.  That’s why the Province of Ontario has launched Best Start.  It’s the Province’s plan to strengthen healthy development; early learning and child care services during a child’s first years.  We all want children in Ontario to be ready and eager to excel in school by the time they start Grade 1.  

When fully implemented, Best Start will provide an integrated system of services that seamlessly support families with children from their birth right through their transition into Grade 1.  These services include quality child care, public health and parenting programs, as well as newborn and infant screening programs, hearing programs and speech and language therapy programs to help identify supports for children who need extra attention for healthy early development.

Best Start is a partnership with parents and families, created in response to the clear message that Ontario’s young children and their families need more integrated and accessible services, more high quality, regulated child care spaces, and more subsidies so that more families can access those spaces.  It is a long-term strategy that will be implemented over 10 years, beginning with an immediate expansion of child care spaces.

At its core, Best Start involves a massive expansion of quality and affordable child care and investments in every child's healthy early development - all in a convenient and easily accessible location for parents.  But it is much more than that.  Best Start is a partnership with parents and families, created in response to the clear message that Ontario's young children and their families need more integrated and accessible services, more high quality, regulated child care spaces, and more subsidies so that more families can access those spaces. It is a long-term strategy that will be implemented over 10 years, beginning with an immediate expansion of child care spaces.

Best Start is also a comprehensive, evidence-informed system of services that seamlessly supports families with children from their birth through their transition into Grade 1. These services run the gamut from newborn and infant screening to hearing programs to speech and language therapy that help identify and provide support to children who need extra help for healthy early development. They include quality child care, public health and parenting programs that help parents help their children to be successful in school.

And they put families in touch with other services that they might need.

GOALS OF BEST START

Best Start is a bold strategy, one that will involve a massive expansion of quality and affordable child care, beginning with four and five year olds, and investments in children’s healthy early development – all in a convenient and easily accessible location for parents.  Approximately $1.1 billion in new federal funding over the next three years beginning in 2005-2006 will enable the province to work with community partners – school boards, public health units, child care and children’s services providers, and municipalities – to make sure that:

• Many more children and parents have access to services and supports, regardless of individual economic or social circumstances
• Pre-school, junior kindergarten, senior kindergarten, quality child care, public health and parenting programs are integrated into a seamless system that supports families and children
• Early and on-going screening of Ontario ’s children to identify potential issues, needs and risks is strengthened
• Early learning and care hubs that are centrally established in Ontario ’s communities to provide families with a single, integrated, seamless point of access to services and supports based on local needs and available resources.

 Best start is an ambitious plan and in order to help the Province with its development throughout all of Ontario , Best Start is being accelerated in three communities:  Hamilton ’s urban east end; the rural areas of Lambton and Kent; and the District of Timiskaming.

 These three model Best Start communities will allow the Province to learn and share best practices that will guide them as we implement Best Start over the long-term.  All three communities are moving quickly and have established Best Start networks and are developing their Best Start plans, which are to be completed by October 2005.  Best Start is expected to be fully operational in these three communities by 2007-2008.

 If you would like more information on Best Start, please go to: www.children.gov.on.ca/CS/en/programs/BestStart

Best Start In Timiskaming   (31KB)
Best Start Network / Working Group   (Link Coming Soon)