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Our HomeWe operate in a 4 bedroom house located in Burlington, Ontario. We are able to house up to 5 mothers and 5 babies at a time, and operate with a continuous waiting list for admission. Our shelter differs from other shelters of this nature mostly because we try to create a family dynamic and warm and supportive atmosphere for all of our residents. We work to ensure that this is a place of love for them to look back on and revisit when they leave. |
Our program serves young pregnant homeless women and their babies that have lived and are currently living at Shifra Homes. These women are almost always youth from lower-income backgrounds, and come from very diverse and often dysfunctional families. We teach these young women life skills, provide them with support and counseling, and encourage their growth as individuals and mothers. Our residents are required to continue schooling, or start volunteering or working while residing in our Home. We help them with job-searching, and assist them in learning about and nurturing the early childhood development of their infants.
The essence of our Residential Program is to provide numerous services such as: prenatal care, pregnancy counseling, medical care, parenting skills, life coaching skills, nutritional programs, and continual monitoring. By providing a confluent delivery of necessary services and building a support system for the mothers and their babies through our programs we invigorate their capability to transition successfully back into the community.
The essence of our Residential Program is to provide numerous services such as: prenatal care, pregnancy counseling, medical care, parenting skills, life coaching skills, nutritional programs, and continual monitoring. By providing a confluent delivery of necessary services and building a support system for the mothers and their babies through our programs we invigorate their capability to transition successfully back into the community.
Our History |
Shifra Homes was established as a result of need in the community for a maternity residence by Deacon Randy Matters in 2006. Our service as a maternity home was the first proposed and the only one to date operating of its nature in the entire region of Halton, Ontario Canada. Our necessity in the community and creation is predicated upon statistics which indicate that annually there are over 200 teen pregnancies in the Halton region.
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Our Difference |
Along with our family dynamic that we work to provide for our residents, our shelter also differs from other shelters in other ways, and we feel that these differences explain why we are so successful. Our Home acts as both a shelter and resource centre for our current and previous residents, and this dual service provision differentiates us from other agencies. Also, through our Seeds of Hope program we are able to continue to provide assistance post-discharge: this allows us to follow-up with our residents, ensure they remain successful, and it allows them to continue to have our support through their journey of life. This additional program has made a tremendous impact in our residents' levels of success. We also accept a larger age range of residents, admitting women between the ages of 16 and 27.
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