Block Parent signs disappearing
The B.C. Block Parent Society is asking volunteers to remove the familiar signs from homes across the province by June 2005, because of concerns the signs could be misused to lure children.
To get the signs back, volunteers will have to pass a criminal record check.
In response, Block Parent members in Delta shut down their program last week – following the lead of other B.C. cities.
Lorna McInnes, who ran the program in Delta, says the stricter rules and a lack of stay-at home parents have made it difficult to attract volunteers.
"There was about 1,200 in Delta," she says. "And just before we stopped there was about 600. If you don't have the numbers to volunteer for it, it's really not effective, and I guess in a sense it is obsolete."
Burnaby, North Vancouver, and Richmond have already abandoned the red-and-white signs.
Ana Bloomfield, who ran the project in Richmond, is launching a new program to educate children about what they should do when they're in trouble.
"If you teach kids just one thing – how to rely on just the sign – what happens if that sign isn't there?"
Bloomfield says the sign program may survive in smaller communities because it's easier to manage with fewer people involved.
The Block Parent program has been providing safe places to go for B.C.'s children for 25 years.