Children's Aid Societies
Protecting Children by
Supporting Workers
February 26, 2010
Hon. Laurel Broten
Minister of Children and Youth Services
56 Wellesley Street West
14th Floor
Toronto, ON M5S 2S3
Hon. Dwight Duncan
Minister of Finance
Frost Building South
7th Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 1Y7
Dear Ministers:
Children’s Aid Societies (CASs) cannot keep operating and
protecting vulnerable children in this province without adequate funds to meet
their statutory mandate.
This is a simple truth that has been repeated time and time
again by all of the stakeholders in the system, including the Ontario
Association of Children’s Aid Societies, and the unions representing staff at
CASs.
The one-time funding of $27 million announced on Feb. 15 has not
eased the financial crisis faced by CASs. If anything, it has deepened the
anxieties faced by agency staff and voluntary boards.
The amount is less than half of what was needed and 11 agencies
facing deficits received zero funds. At least two of the 11, Huron-Perth CAS and
CAS of Northumberland, have said they won’t be able to make payroll as soon as
Mar.12.
Layoffs have only been avoided at agencies such as CAS of Ottawa
because experienced staff volunteered to exit the agency, thereby creating
openings for staff due to be laid off.
The emergency funding is not sufficient to recall 18 staff
members that were laid off at York Region CAS in January.
Services to children are being cut and agencies are managing
their deficits by delaying the expense payments and, potentially wages, owed to
staff.
Agencies are spending too much of their time managing deficits
at a time when demand for child protection services is growing because of the
increased stress experienced by families due to the recession.
I would like to share with you the
circumstances at London and Middlesex CAS. The Board met Feb. 24 with two staff
members of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS).
The agency will have a cash
shortfall of $2.5 million as of Mar. 31. It will receive $1.1 million in
emergency funding. However $260,800 will be held back until the agency submits a
balanced budget. This will be an impossible task since the agency didn’t receive
the funds necessary to cover this year’s deficit.
London and Middlesex CAS will
require an advance of $1.3 million on its 2010-11 funding from the government in
order make payroll on Apr. 2. Even though the fiscal year starts Apr. 1, MCYS
staff told the agency’s Board that due to the Easter holiday weekend, the
Ministry may not be able to provide the funds until Apr. 6.
CAS staff provide services legally
mandated by your government. Are you honestly telling them they have to wait
five days for monies legally owed to them because the funds can’t be flowed on
Mar. 31 or Apr. 1 to their employer?
Staff have also been informed by
the agency that they will not be reimbursed for mileage and other expenses
generated in February and March until mid-April, leaving staff out of pocket for
considerable sums of money. A number of staff work in Middlesex County and
others drive throughout southwestern Ontario in order to visit with children on
a regular, required basis.
CAS Boards throughout the province
are meeting to determine whether to apply for lines of credit for services that
are mandated by the government and should be, therefore, properly funded. The
London CAS has had its application for a line of credit turned down, despite a
letter from MCYS supporting the agency’s application.
If voluntary boards don’t want to
pay for government services by applying for credit lines, or if they have
exhausted their credit lines, MCYS staff are telling them to deal with their
deficits by fund-raising!
Agencies have cut the following
services to children because they lack the funds to pay for them:
-
Transportation costs, including volunteer drivers, for
children to attend therapy, access visits with parents and siblings, and
other programs;
-
Drug-screening to see if parents are still using drugs;
-
Recreation budgets, limiting the access foster children have
to sports programs;
-
The production of “life” books for children in foster care;
through photographs and anecdotes, these books tell the story of a child
with a foster family, thus helping a child gain an important sense of self
and of being loved and cared for.
I am very troubled by suggestions
in your government’s messaging that the financial crisis is caused, in part, by
agencies providing services that are not mandated by law.
This is simply not true. As you
know, CASs have the exclusive mandate to protect children from abuse and neglect
in Ontario. While the best known of their functions is the investigation of
allegations of abuse and the placement of children into care, agencies are
mandated by the Children and Family Services Act (CFSA) to do far more.
CASs provide a broad range of
protection services that support children and families in order to prevent
circumstances that might require intervention by the agency. CAS staff work with
biological families to reduce the risk of abuse and neglect, teaching parenting
skills, providing counseling, and other support to families.
These vital, mandated functions,
outlined in Section 9 of the CFSA, keep children out of care and in family-based
settings which all the available research concludes provides the best outcomes
for children.
The fact is that your government’s
funding model does not fund these important agency functions required by your
law.
With due respect, it is time your
government provided sustainable, annualized funding so desperately needed by
Ontario’s Children Aid Societies. To do otherwise, represents a serious
abrogation of your responsibilities to the children of this province
Sincerely,
Warren (Smokey) Thomas
President
WS/mp
cc: Rick Pybus, OPSEU Chair,
Children’s Aid Societies
Marnie Dickout,
president, Local 116, CAS of London and Middlesex
Tracy More, OPSEU
Negotiator
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