Archive for the ‘Child & Family Debates’ Category
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Crime figures belie policies
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Jul 22 2010
… crime-fighting is at the top of the Conservative government’s agenda. And why not? Preying on people’s fears is an easy sell for politicians seeking votes. But the hard sell isn’t based on hard facts. As the latest Statistics Canada analysis released this week shows, crime rates are going in the opposite direction… There is no reliable evidence that longer jail terms act as a deterrent to crime. There is every reason to believe more time in prison makes for more hardened criminals.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
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Who wants to be a food bank client? Anyone? Hello?
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
July 21, 2010
… making poor choices shouldn’t mean not eating, or watching one’s children go hungry… Yes, there are cheats playing the system. In a year at the food bank I’ve met two. Maybe 3, tops. There are consequences for the cheats when they are identified. The others? They’re people who are trying to keep the family together, to maintain some dignity for their kids, to be able to stay at a level where they can job hunt, to keep putting one foot ahead of the other for another day.
Tags: poverty, standard of living
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Taking family law beyond the courts
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
July 21, 2010
The BC government’s wide-ranging white paper on proposed changes to family law is promising, particularly on settlement of disputes and on the definition of parenthood… It says that the commencement of a lawsuit should no longer be the “presumptive” or “implied” starting point for sorting out the consequences of a separation of spouses. The principal device proposed to displace that default mode is to require lawyers to certify that they have presented to their clients the full spectrum of other ways to settle their differences, before they resort to… litigation.
Tags: featured
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How to reform Children’s Aid
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Jul 11 2010
Ontario’s child welfare system is so rule-bound it regulates the bath temperature and the size of a bedroom window in foster homes. Yet there is no tangible evidence that these regulations, the hundreds of other rules and all the accompanying paperwork achieve the one goal that really matters: ensuring children are happy, healthy and getting the care they need…. A commission set up by Children’s Minister Laurel Broten to provide advice on making CASs more financially sustainable has recommended a new way of doing business. It deserves attention.
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Low-income Ontarians need help to conserve energy
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
Jul 07 2010
Ontario’s electricity supply planner and energy industry regulator have been told to design, implement and fund an energy efficiency and conservation program for low-income residents by January 2011… The program should include province-wide customer service policies such as rules governing security deposits, arrears management and disconnection; emergency financial help for customers facing short-term crises; and conservation and energy efficiency retrofits… The Low-Income Energy Network, a group of tenant, environmental and anti-poverty advocates, welcomed the move.
Tags: poverty, standard of living
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Make domestic child health a priority
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
July 8, 2010
… while we go to heroic measures to help one sick individual, we are not generous in promoting the population’s health by guaranteeing all families with children access to decent housing, food, early learning or quality child care, and enough unstressed time together. The limited availability of these community supports is why nearly a third of the next generation of Canadians are vulnerable before they start school Put bluntly, we have a disease fetish in Canada. And the medical care system reinforces it.
Tags: child care, featured, Health, housing, poverty, standard of living
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Cash cuts increase child abuse
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
July 7, 2010
… the single best predictor of child abuse is poverty. Children raised in families with annual incomes of less than $15,000 are 22 times more likely to be abused. One in five American children, more than 14 million, live in poverty… If the most prosperous country in the world can afford to fight two wars, battle terrorism in far-off lands and bail out Wall Street by the billions, why can’t it offer its most vulnerable and voiceless citizens anything but bureaucratic red tape? Children are the only investment with guaranteed dividends. Our refusal to make our children’s well-being a priority foreshadows a terrifying future…
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Poverty big concern for child-care groups in Grey-Bruce
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
July 7, 2010
The profile, drawn up over two years with funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, was put together to identify areas of strength and vulnerability in the younger population to help service providers plan how to respond to vulnerabilities identified and provide a baseline to track changes, a summary of the report says… The alliance is also looking at setting up service hubs to make it easier for young people and families to access the help they need. School seems to be an obvious place for them…
Tags: participation, poverty
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One in three Ontario criminal verdicts overturned
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
Jul 05 2010
A statistical analysis of five years’ worth of the court’s cases… shows approximately 35 per cent of criminal appeals succeed… Most criminal appeals are brought by people convicted of crimes, but they also include Crown appeals of an acquittal or sentence imposed by a trial court… The appeal court set aside trial decisions in 34 per cent of family cases and 27 per cent of civil cases. Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler said… the most surprising statistic was the number of people arguing motions before the court without lawyers.
Tags: standard of living
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Well-educated, older immigrants prefer Canada to U.S., poll finds
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010
Jun. 23, 2010
In the 148-country survey, Gallup found that 41 per cent of those aged 15-24 would choose to migrate to the U.S., compared with only 27 per cent who chose Canada. But the older cohort, those 25-44, chose Canada over the U.S. 48 per cent to 40 per cent. Among those who have completed only elementary education, the U.S. outstrips Canada by a considerable margin. But among those who have completed secondary education, Canada leads by 59 per cent to 51 per cent.
Tags: immigration, multiculturalism, participation
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