Whatever happened to the Block Parent Program?

"I wonder if Block Parents are still around," someone asks me.
 
I wonder too. When was the last time I saw that sign with the adult arm holding a child's hand in theirs in the front window of a house or place of business? Was it when my daughter, now 25, was in kindergarten?
 
The Block Parent Program is alive and well, says Tara Mondou, board chair of the Waterloo Regional Block Parent Program (WRBPP).
 
The organization encompasses Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and the surrounding rural communities. But you won't see a lot of those signs these days. In fact, Mondou admits, the number of volunteers has plummeted since its inception in the community.
 
WRBPP was established in 1976 in response to a child abduction in London, Ontario in 1972. By the early '80s, there were 10,000 block parents in the region. In 2009, there were 200.
 
That same year, those serving on WRBPP's board of directors were ready to step down. Local media alerted the community that WRBPP would be terminated without new volunteers. A community meeting brought in new blood.
 
"Today there are 260 block parents for Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge," says Mondou, a mother of two girls ages two and four and stepmom to two boys ages 14 and 17.
 
But what about the huge drop in WRBPP volunteers, from 10,000 to less than 300? Many people think they're too busy or believe that if they work outside their home they're not eligible to volunteer as a Block Parent, says Mondou.
 
That's just one of the misconceptions the program faces, according to Mondou. Block Parents do not have to be stay-at-home moms, or someone who's home all the time. She stresses that the organization is still active and delivers a message that WRBPP isn't just for kids.
 
"It's for everybody," Mondou says. "When we looked at some statistics across Canada, we found 50 per cent of the people who knock on Block Parent homes are seniors with Alzheimer's. So, for example, they might not remember what happened to them yesterday, but they remember the Block Parent sign from the '70s. The program evolved to include anybody who found themselves lost or hurt, children, youths, adults, seniors."
 
Block Parents must be 18 years of age, and everyone in the household who is over 12 must have a Police Record Check (PRC) every two years.
 
"It's good because you want people to have criminal checks," says Mondou. "In this busy society, people just don't think they have time to bring their children who are over 12 and themselves down to the police station every two years to get their police records checked."*
 
So, going back to that drop in volunteer numbers, perhaps WRBPP has run its course with technology such as cell phones taking its place?
 
"It's difficult, and sometimes dangerous, to make broad statements," says Olaf Heinzel public affairs coordinator with Waterloo Regional Police Service. "It comes down to factors like is the child old enough or capable enough of handling the technology?"
 
Cell phones do have benefits, but Heinzel says you need an emergency plan and likens it to a fire plan you rehearse with your family.
 
"If something happens (you) need to have several different options. And rehearse those with your children on a regular basis. Make it situational to your neighbourhood and to your own family's needs."
 
Mondou believes the safe haven that beckons will be that red Block Parent sign in the window. And if you're looking for a way to make a positive impact on the community, "being a Block Parent is the easiest way to volunteer," she adds. "It's like volunteering from your couch because you don't have to leave your house."
 
You don't need to be home all the time but when you are, and the sign's in your window, it's a welcoming message to those in distress.
 
Mondou says when she contacts volunteers to let them know it's time to get their police record check, they lose people who don't want to continue serving.
 
"But at the same time," she says, "every time we go out into the community (to talk to people or present educational sessions), I get another phone call saying, 'I want to be a Block Parent.' We lose some, we gain some. So, I don't think it's diminishing, I think it's growing."
 

* This sentence has been corrected. Earlier this quote was wrongly attributed to Olaf Heinzel. OpenFile regrets the error.