Archive for the ‘Child & Family’ Category
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Misspeaking childcare: The Ford government’s evidence vacuum
Friday, May 31st, 2019
Taken together, this brew of rapid-fire cuts, chipping away, and misrepresentation of Ontario childcare add up to a picture of a childcare future that isn’t good for anyone — not children, parents, educators — but could be great for investors. Fortunately, the childcare community, together with supporters and political allies from across parties are speaking up to set the record straight on what accessible, affordable, high quality child care actually is, what’s needed to get it, and why Ontario families today recognize, need, want and demand it.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Bedlam over beds: We can no longer ignore our long-term-care crisis
Tuesday, May 28th, 2019
In Ontario … the wait list for long-term care is a staggering 34,000 people… Long-term care is a $70-billion-a-year business but consumers – and government in particular – can be parsimonious in what they are willing to pay to care for individuals… Far too many Canadians learn the hard way that long-term care is not only costly, but there isn’t much government support… most long-term care is paid out-of-pocket.
Tags: housing, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario government slashes funding to children’s aid societies
Thursday, May 23rd, 2019
The Ford government is reducing funding for children and youth at risk by $84.5 million, according to an analysis of provincial spending estimates by the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies… The cut comes as 18 child protection agencies struggle with deficits totalling more than $12 million. The deficits have already forced some agencies to lay off staff and reduce the number of children at risk they take into care.
Tags: budget, child care, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Tories slash $17M from services for victims of violence
Wednesday, May 15th, 2019
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government has cut the budget for financial supports to help victims of violence by more than $17 million… At $163.4 billion, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli’s budget is the largest in Ontario history. But MacLeod’s department took the biggest hit, down $892 million from last year’s estimate of $17.5 billion. That was due mostly due to changes Ontario’s social assistance programs, Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, housing, ideology, mental Health, women
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Canadian study identifies five most vulnerable groups for FASD
Wednesday, May 1st, 2019
The study identified five high-prevalence groups: children in care; people in correctional service custody; people in special education services; people using specialized services for developmental disabilities or psychiatric care; and Indigenous populations. The study was designed to help improve prevalence estimates and predictions with an eye to better public policy, and to allow for better planning and budgeting of health care, community and social services response.
Tags: child care, corrections, disabilities, Health, Indigenous, mental Health, poverty, women, youth
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Legal Aid Ontario to cut jobs, impose hiring freeze after provincial budget cutbacks
Monday, April 29th, 2019
Cutting the positions, along with other administrative changes including a hiring freeze, salary freeze for management, and delaying implementation of IT projects, are projected to save the agency about $16.6 million… there would also be a compensation funding freeze for legal clinics, and putting a stop to funding for one-time clinic projects… Changes to how it deals with the private bar are expected to save the agency $13.9 million
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
‘A Broken System’: Adoptive Families Say Child Welfare Agencies Are Failing On Fasd
Monday, April 29th, 2019
In Canada, child welfare is a provincial responsibility and there is no national data on FASD among kids in care. But research published in 2014 on Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario found a prevalence rate three to four times higher than estimates for children in the general population. Broader research on child welfare systems across North America suggest the prevalence of FASD could be as high as 17 per cent… Respite options also tend to be crisis-oriented.
Tags: child care, disabilities, mental Health, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
For years, child advocate Irwin Elman has been a voice for the voiceless. That voice has now been silenced
Sunday, April 28th, 2019
… with the Ford government’s decision last fall… tens of thousands of Ontario’s most vulnerable children and youth will lose the sympathetic ear — and advocacy — of several dozen staff dedicated to their well-being. These kids include First Nations children and youth, those seeking or receiving services from children’s aid societies, children’s mental health and youth criminal justice systems and those with disabilities or attending provincial schools for the deaf, blind and developmentally disabled.
Tags: budget, child care, featured, ideology, rights, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario’s cuts to legal aid will hurt the poorest
Saturday, April 20th, 2019
It’s hard to fathom the fallout from the Ford government’s short-sighted decision to slash Legal Aid Ontario’s already inadequate budget by 30 per cent. The agency, established to provide legal services to the province’s most vulnerable citizens, was struggling to meet the need even before this. Its budget was so squeezed, in fact, that it could represent only people who are making less than about $17,000 a year. That’s far below the poverty line.
Even then, coverage was limited.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Thumbs up for Ontario’s new Childcare Plan
Friday, April 19th, 2019
The new Ontario Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit, initially estimated to cost around $400 million, will incentivize thousands of stay-at-home parents (mostly mothers) to join the workforce, generating additional taxable employment income and boosting tax revenues in the long run. The credit is targeted, mostly, at low- to modest-income families, where gaps from the current childcare expense tax deduction are the greatest… The CARE refundable tax credit will fill this gap, refunding up to 75 percent of the cost.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, women
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
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