Archive for the ‘Child & Family Debates’ Category
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Housing or just castles in the air?
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Jul 02 2010
For most of us, Canada is good country to call home. But for approximately 300,000 people, it is a country where they have no home. Some live in homeless shelters. Some spend their nights in parks, ravines, back alleys or on the streets. Some couch surf until their friends’ and relatives’ patience runs out. Governments have known about this problem for two decades. They’ve conducted studies, made promises, set targets — and missed most of them.
Tags: homelessness, housing, standard of living
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The true costs of ‘truth in sentencing’
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
June 29, 2010
There’s a difference between being “tough on crime,” as the federal Conservatives profess to be, and being stupid about crime, which is what they are. A case in point is their Truth in Sentencing Act, which will do next to nothing about bringing down crime, the rates of which are falling year after year. The act, however, will do a great deal to increase the costs of incarceration in Canada… More crowding would fit nicely with “tough on crime” or “let ’em rot in hell” rhetoric. It would do nothing, of course, in reducing recidivism rates, let alone rehabilitation.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology
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Calgary homeless in from cold
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Jun 22 2010
One of the foundation’s top priorities was to provide homes for parents and their children who find themselves on the street or being shuffled from shelter to shelter at night. About 220 families were rehoused in two years against a target of 200. Plans are also underway to provide housing for people discharged from hospitals and detox facilities who have no place to go, as well as people released from jails and juvenile detention centres.
Tags: homelessness, housing, poverty
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CAS employees fight for funding
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
June 8, 2010
According to the union’s provincial office, 200 new directives came about when Queen’s Park introduced amendments to the Child and Family Services Act in 2006. But a failure to boost CAS funding has resulted in some agencies facing bankruptcy in 2009, while many others are facing operating deficits this year… Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci said the Liberal government has increased, not cut or maintained, funding to the province’s 53 Children’s Aid Societies in recent years… funding went up while factors such as the number of children in care grew by less than 1%
Tags: budget
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Spending early on children in care will save in the long term
Friday, June 4th, 2010
31 March 2010
The real problem is that the director of a local looked-after children’s services is making decisions based on a 12-month budget. Even though evidence can show incredible savings over the life of a difficult child, by early intervention and investment, the director can’t report that back at a finance meeting. All that is shown is a big spend on one child. The long-term savings for these children will come by ensuring that they don’t go on to be a burden on prison, mental health services and the benefits system, as well as ensuring that any future children they have don’t repeat the same distressing cycle.
Tags: standard of living
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Repurposing schools
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
Jun 03 2010
At a time of declining enrollments, converting some of Toronto’s half-empty schools into community hubs — offering services that go well beyond education — is an obvious way to repurpose valuable resources…. Without co-ordinated action, underutilized schools will never be repurposed for the neighbourhoods that need them most. And unused properties will simply be sold off to private developers. It’s not too late to act.
Tags: participation
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Canada’s teen pregnancy rates fall sharply
Monday, May 31st, 2010
May 26, 2010
Teen pregnancy rates have fallen more steeply in Canada over the last decade than in the United States, England or Sweden, a new study shows. Between 1996 and 2006, the most recent year for which information is available for all four countries, Canada’s teen pregnancy rate declined in each consecutive year, falling from 44.2 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 in 1996 to to 27.9 in 2006. That represents a 36.9% decline over the course of a decade, compared to a 25% decline in the U.S., a 4.75% dip in England (where statistics include Wales) and a 19.1% increase in Sweden.
Tags: Health, women
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School role as community hub threatened by new zoning, trustees argue
Monday, May 31st, 2010
May 31, 2010
… as school boards themselves shutter buildings at a rate not seen in a decade, with little city input, they may be closing off the chance to offer a range of services like recreational programs, seniors’ centres or even medical and dental offices in the spare space, says a report to be released Monday by advocacy group People for Education.
Tags: participation, standard of living
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Big holes in Ontario retirement homes bill, advocates say
Monday, May 31st, 2010
May 31 2010
For decades, advocates have called for the regulation of privately run retirement homes after horror stories of resident neglect, abuse and lax standards of care. There are approximately 628 retirement homes across Ontario housing 43,000 residents… However, the bill allows for the industry to be virtually self-regulating — missing public oversight, critics say.
Tags: disabilities, Health, standard of living
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A better idea for foster kids
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
May 23 2010
… a report by the Laidlaw Foundation urged Ottawa to establish registered education savings plans (RESPs) for children in foster care, similar to those that parents set up for their own children. The report rightly identifies the transforming effect that making college financially possible could have on Crown wards. While such a change would be helpful for the minority with the academic credentials to attend a post-secondary institution, the province needs to take further steps to give these youths a better chance of just getting through high school.
Tags: participation, standard of living
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