Interior Community Services serves as the host agency for Make Children First and Understanding the Early Years in Kamloops.

As the largest non-profit social service agency in Kamloops, ICS offers a continuum of prevention and intervention supports to individuals, families or groups across the life course, in home, office or community settings. 

Go to www.interiorcommunityservices.bc.ca to explore the website.

Interior Community Services provides a variety of Early Childhood programming to the community including: Courtyard Daycare / First Steps/ Baby’s Head Start / Families First / Healthy Beginnings / Early Connections

Courtyard Daycare (click here to read more about our daycare)

The Courtyard Child Care is a licensed child care facility.  Operated by Interior Community Services, the center is located within the Spencer Court housing complex in Kamloops, British Columbia. A staff team of 3 full-time licensed Early Childhood Educators provides exceptional care to 20 children aged 30 months to 5 years.  The program operates year-round and is open Monday to Friday from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm.  All of the food is provided, as well as a kindergarten pick-up/ drop-off service to the neighborhood school. We serve families within Spencer Court as well as community spaces.  The Courtyard Child Care recognizes that play is an essential component to every child’s physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development.  The children are provided with a stimulating indoor and outdoor environment where they have large blocks of time to freely discover, create, pretend, explore, build, and learn through play. Natural materials are provided that allow opportunities for incidental learning and to demonstrate how things live, die, grow, change, and evolve through the cycles of life and the seasons. We encourage independence by allowing children to choose their own activities, access their own materials, and be an active participant in both problem solving and program planning. We recognize that a strong relationship with the family is essential to providing the best possible care for the child. And, as the center of this complex, we hope to provide opportunities for the children to interact with the people, places, and events that shape their community and our world.

First Steps

First Steps is a full time program that offers young mothers between the ages of 14 and 24, academic upgrading towards their graduation diploma. This program includes information on career and education planning, job readiness, parenting and life skills - all while their children are in a quality licensed childcare facility. In receiving funding for childcare, academic classes and transportation, students must be enrolled in life skills and parenting courses for the duration of the program. First Steps also provides support to families while they are on the waitlist and during summer months with scheduled events.
First Steps is offered in partnership with Thompson Rivers University, Twin Rivers Education Centre, The Boys and Girls Club of Kamloops and Interior Community Services.

For more information call 250-376-9119

Baby’s Head Start

Baby’s Head Start is a pregnancy outreach service incorporating free nutrition/vitamin supplements for those in financial need, individual and family support, group work and community referrals.  The Baby’s Head Start team is comprised of Outreach Workers, a Registered Nurse and a Registered Nutritionist.   Services are provided to pregnant women from the point of conception through to six months postnatal.  Women must be pregnant at the time of registration.  Baby’s Head Start is a self-referral program, although community referrals are welcome with the permission of the client.

For more information call 250-554-3134

Families First

Families First provides in-home support to families who are, or will be parenting an infant.  Families are encouraged and supported in providing a safe and nurturing environment for themselves and the child(ren).  The program promotes parent/child bonding, child development, language development, consistent routines, positive child management skills and improved family relationships.  Families First assists families in connecting with peers and other community resources.  This service is a long-term program that invites families to be involved until their child reaches age 5.  This service is offered in Kamloops, Chase, Barriere, Cache Creek and Ashcroft.  Families may qualify and enter the program prenatally or before their child is 3 months of age.  Clients are welcome to self-refer, or are referred through public health nurses or other community professionals.

For more information call 250-554-3134

Healthy Beginnings

Healthy Beginnings is a parent-child weekly drop-in group for parents of children birth to six years of age.  The purpose of Healthy Beginnings is to provide a safe, welcome, supportive and educational environment for young children and their parents to get together on a regular basis.  Parent and child activities focus on the physical, mental and emotional health and development of their children.  Healthy Beginnings provides parents with an opportunity to share their parenting experience in a social environment while allowing their children to interact, learn and play.  There are no fees and groups are open to all families of all cultures and race with children birth to six years of age.  Groups are offered in Kamloops, Clinton, Cache Creek, Barriere, Ashcroft, Chase and Merritt.  This program is offered in partnership with Interior Indian Friendship Society.

For more information call 250-554-3134

Early Connections

This service provides early intervention for families with children aged 0-6 who are at moderate risk of developing a childhood mental health disorder.  This program addresses the needs to create secure attachment relationships between parents and their young children. The goals of this service are to enhance and strengthen attachment relationships, and for parents to be able to demonstrate an increased knowledge of child development milestones and parenting practices that promote healthy child development.   This program is based on research supporting the early detection of infant/child mental health disorders, which are manifested as a result of insecure attachment relationships.  Attachment based theories, research and interventions indicate that secure parent/child relationships are necessary for optimal emotional health.

For more information call 250-554-3134