The WMRC Parents’ Committee is a support group for parents, siblings and/or legal guardians of adults receiving service from WMRC. It is volunteer-driven and consists of a five-member Executive Committee and current membership of sixty.
The committee exists to:
- provide parents and/or guardians with timely and relevant information concerning WMRC events and activities;
- promote WMRC, its services and programs;
- inform the WMRC Board of concerns about service gaps and needs;
- promote parent participation in WMRC activities
- provide an opportunity for parents to network.
With the support of Mr. Jack Carlon (at the time WMRC's counsellor to the executive director) a fledgling group met during the months of January - May, 2007 to explore how parents could support and encourage each other. In order to explore the needs of parents, a survey was created and sent to approximately 1800 families.
By June, we had received over 400 completed surveys. The results were analyzed over the summer and on September 18, 2007, a summary was presented to the WMRC Board of Directors, where it was very well received. Following that presentation, Board chairman Mr. Gary Whittaker appointed two Board members to review the data and present a summary to the Board at the next meeting.
After the committee made its presentation, the Board of Directors accepted the recommendations that were proposed and the Parents' Committee was formally acknowledged as a support group.
The first official Parents' meeting was held on Tuesday, May 27, 2008, and the first Executive was elected on March 12, 2009. Since that time, we have been able to organize several information meetings where WMRC Board members and staff addressed many of the concerns that parents had expressed.
We believe that we must be actively involved in helping our chidren and siblings reach their maximum potential and help them enjoy the best quality of life available within the framework of WMRC.
As a parent support group, we continue to work with WMRC and advocate on behalf of our families to give a voice to those who are some of the most vulnerable in our society.
We would like to thank Mr. Carlon for all of his efforts and also the WMRC Users' Committee for working with us and allowing us to share their Internet space. Because of their generosity, we will be able to disseminate information more quickly and extend our outreach.
Carole Mercier, president
Photo caption: (from left to right) The executive committee of Joseph Malko, Ricky Held, Patricia Morris, Courtney Lai-Hing and Carole Mercier.
