Block Parents needed to make program a success

An organization aimed to give people in distress a place to turn is having some hiccups getting off the ground.

Gail put a call out on Facebook encouraging Black Diamond and Turner Valley residents to become Block Parents to revive the defunct Diamond Valley Block Parent Program late last year. Only 15 distinctive red and white signs have gone up in windows so far.

“If the community doesn’t step up the program cannot go,” Fagan said. “The integrity of the program and the welfare of the community require good coverage.”

Fagan wants to see at least 50 signs in windows near C. Ian McLaren and another 30 around Turner Valley School by this summer so the committee can begin educating students about the program in elementary schools this September.

“The initial idea was posted on Facebook in November and we began inviting people to join in January,” she said. “To get only 15 in four months, that’s not very good.”

Fagan said Block Parents are essential in high-traffic areas like pathways, playground and schools.

“For the education portion we want them around the schools,” she said. “Of particular importance is where people travel and congregate regularly. I live near a pathway and an elderly lady fell down and hit her head on the ice. She crawled to my door and we ended up taking her to the hospital. Block Parents isn’t just for children, it’s for anybody that’s in distress.”

Fagan said several people support the idea, but only a fraction registered.

“There’s been incidents around here of bullying and I hope some kid doesn’t get hurt to make everybody fire up again,” she said. “There’s no cost to the volunteers, just time and willingness to commit and make it happen.”

In addition to the existing Block Parents, Fagan said another dozen need to get police record checks completed.

Everyone in the household ages 12 and older must be checked initially and every two years.

With the Turner Valley RCMP detachment open Monday to Fridays from 8:30 to 4:30 p.m., Fagan said several residents are unable to get their checks done at that time.

The local Block Parents committee and Turner Valley RCMP liaison officer Const. James Santschi have now arranged for the committee to supply applicants with the record check forms and Santschi will schedule specific dates for applicants to go to the detachment after hours, said Fagan.

“We will notify the people whose applications are done that they can go in, bring their original IDs for verification and pick up their paperwork,” she said. “The hitch would be if he gets called out on an emergency call as he is on duty.”

Lynn Squance, administrator with the Alberta Block Parents Association, said police record checks are a hurdle in many of the province’s 23 participating communities.

“Some stay open until 8 p.m. one night a month and we have other detachments that will send someone to block parent meetings,” she said.

Squance said the Alberta Block Parent Program is doing well, despite the national program recently losing a major sponsor that funded the signs.

“Over the years we’ve been very prudent,” she said of the Alberta program. “We tried to put away as much money as we could. At the moment Alberta is in a very good position. We have funds to keep it going for quite a few years.”

And there is always room for more Block Parents in Alberta, said Squance.

“That is definitely the way to keep our communities safe,” she said. “Volunteers go into the schools to talk to the children about personal safety and we need to have those signs up for those children when they go out. So many times we tell them be careful of strangers. It’s nice to be able to say, ‘If you see that sign in the window help is available immediately.’”

The Block Parent program was initiated in London, Ontario in 1968 after a boy was abducted and killed on his way to school, and made its way to Alberta in 1973.

For more information or to register for the local program search for Diamond Valley Block Parent Program on Facebook.