SmartStart Hubs guidelines

A Note About the Development of These Guidelines, and Future Updates

The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) co-developed the design of the SmartStart Hubs and drafted these guidelines in partnership with a working group made up of service provider representatives, including Children’s Treatment Centres (see Appendix A for definitions), Indigenous partners and SMILE Canada (an organization supporting newcomer children with disabilities), the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, and parents of children with disabilities/special needs^{footnote 1[1]}. The ministry also received input on the guidelines from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres and the co-founder of Sawubona Africentric Circle of Support (a support group for Black parents of children with disabilities).

The ministry would like to acknowledge and thank members of the working group, and the partners who provided input, for their dedication and for the immense work that went into the development of these guidelines, which outline expectations for the delivery of SmartStart Hubs functions within Children’s Treatment Centres and Surrey Place.

These guidelines are expected to be iterative in nature, meaning that the ministry may update the guidelines based on implementation learnings and best-practices that are developed by SmartStart Hubs over time.