**NEOFACS NEWS RELEASE**

North Eastern Ontario Family and Children’s Services (NEOFACS) has been closely monitoring the developments surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. We continue to follow the lead of our local public health units. It is our priority to ensure that the families we serve, our employees and their families are supported through this health crisis, all while continuing to be accountable for the work we do.

For the foreseeable future, we are making some temporary changes to our services.
We are continuing to deliver services but in order to minimize person-to-person contact, we are limiting access to our buildings. We will be conducting essential visits only. All non-essential visits to our sites are suspended until further notice. We will be implementing a screening process at the entrance to our office to minimize risk for everyone.

Effective 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 20, 2020, until Monday, April 6, 2020, all NEOFACS offices in the communities of Timmins, Kapuskasing, Kirkland Lake, Hearst, Smooth Rock Falls, Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, Englehart, New Liskeard, Matheson and North Cobalt will be closed.

During this closure, we will be operating with staff working remotely. All face-to-face meetings and events during this period will be cancelled.

We are cancelling certain non-essential programs as well as suspending some services until April 6, 2020 (inclusively). These include but may not be limited to the following:
• Brighter Futures and Early ON Child and Family Centres
• Supervised Access Program
• Volunteer Services Activities

If you have meetings scheduled with any of our staff, please connect directly to make alternate arrangements.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. However, we know this is the right decision to protect the children, youth and families we serve and our employees.

If you have concerns about a child at risk or have any questions, please contact us as usual. You can reach us 24/7 at 705-360-7100 or 1-800-665-7743 (Toll-Free) in the Cochrane District or 1-866-229-5437 (Toll-Free) in the Timiskaming District.
Please visit our website at www.neofacs.org for the latest updates.

Filed under: Local News