Speaker Rene D'Aquila of REACH

Posted by Mike Storey

In 2009 Reach celebrated 50 years of providing programs and services that have made a difference in the lives of children with special needs and their families in the South Fraser region.

For 50 years our primary goal has been to ensure that our range and capacity of services meets identified needs of children and families in the community to increase quality of life and support children to meet their full potential.

We are proud to have had the opportunity to serve the community for 50 years, grateful to our volunteers, staff and supporters, and honored to work with the many children and families who have been with us over the years.

Reach Child and Youth Development Society is a non-profit organization that has been providing programs and services to children and their families since 1959, currently serving the communities of Delta, Surrey and Langley, B.C. We offer a variety of services designed to meet the needs of children to ensure their optimum development. Over 1000 children and their families benefit from our services on an annual basis.

Philosophy

Two major premises form the basis upon which Reach delivers its programs and services. The first is that Reach will operate in a family-centered manner and the second is that Reach will beresponsive to the needs of the children and families in the community. Reach recognizes: that the family is the major decision maker in a child's life and the constant in the child's life while service systems and personnel fluctuate; that families are diverse and that cultural, racial and economic diversity requires acceptance and respect; that families and children are unique and each has its own structure, roles, beliefs, and coping style which requires flexible and individualized approaches to goal identification and service planning; that families should be in control and that the primary aim of good service planning is to enable and empower families; that families should be informed and receive unbiased and complete information about their child's care and development. Reach also holds that it is essential to have the design and delivery of services be flexible to meet the changing needs of children and families and to respond to input from the community regarding those needs.