Extend-A-Family

Please note: Not all employers provided information about their positions and application processes. Please visit their websites for more details.

Extend-A-Family works in community to facilitate building of relationships between individuals who have developmental disabilities and other members of the community. We believe that all people belong and that our community is stronger when all members are included. We foster public awareness of the gifts and contributions of people with developmental disabilities. Extend-A-Family is a not-for-profit, charitable organization governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of parents of children with developmental disabilities, self advocates and community members. Extend-A-Family is financially supported by the Ontario Ministry of Children Community and Social Services (MCCSS), The City of Toronto Community Service Partnerships Program, Service Canada, and other donors. The core work of Extend-A-Family is about relationship. Our relationships keep us safe and bring meaning and a sense of belonging into our lives. Through relationship we give deeply of ourselves; however, most people with disabilities have fewer relationships in their lives. This is a loss to both the person with a disability and a community who has not come to know the individual’s gifts and contributions. Extend-A-Family Coordinators step in to introduce people to each other who might not otherwise meet. They base their introduction on shared interests and common goals. They understand and believe that each person will benefit from the relationship.

Website: https://extendafamily.ca

Recruiting for: A host or host family is an individual or family ideally from the neighbourhood or community who has expressed an interest in getting to know a child or youth with a disability. The Coordinator’s role is to recruit, connect and support the relationship between a host / host family and an individual with a disability and their family. The frequency, in which people get together, depends on everyone involved.

Specially interested in seeing students from these Programs:

- Educational Studies
- Sociology
- Children/Childhood and Youth