Archive for the ‘Child & Family’ Category
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Ontario makes bold promise on autism treatment
The new Ontario autism program will give all children under 18 years of age diagnosed with the developmental disorder access to the treatment they require when they need it… The age, severity of autism symptoms and the presence of coexisting diagnoses will no longer affect the eligibility for therapy… Each child’s treatment needs will be determined by a licensed clinician, not cold and blunt program guidelines or funding availability… parents will be able to hire qualified therapists or choose government services.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, mental Health, participation, youth
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Ontario’s plan for ‘universal’ and ‘affordable’ day care won’t be universal and it sure isn’t affordable
Subsidies will only be available to low- and middle-income families, and this is a good thing… Government-run day care is simply uneconomical… by increased levels of unionization among child-care workers — both those at public centres and those offering home-based day care. With Ontario’s new labour-law proposals, which would increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour and allow for easier private sector unionization, the cost increases could be even more dramatic.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, tax
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Dear Ontario: Licensing daycares won’t fix the real problems
While workers in child-care centres have been promised a $2 hourly wage increase (some day), there’s no plan to help the home daycare providers caring for thousands of Ontario kids take more money home. The only real promise made to home daycare providers was to eliminate the fees charged by private agencies, which then inspect and approve them on behalf of the province… Even though licensing will be free (by 2022 or so), it’s not going to be made mandatory
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, standard of living
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National Child Data Strategy: Results of a Feasibility Study
While ‘strategy’ may be too broad, key informants identified strong support for continued work on child data so long as it is clearly defined, does not duplicate existing efforts and is shaped by key players in the field. Next steps include: mapping key data initiatives, creating opportunities for conversation, creating opportunities for learning, supporting data collection, and supporting engagement and knowledge translation.
Tags: child care, disabilities, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth
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Ontario commits to universally accessible child care
The government’s goal to build a “universally accessible” child-care system in Ontario sets out seven action areas for the next five years… by adding 100,000 licensed spots in homes, schools and community settings by 2022… action areas include focusing expansion in the public and non-profit sectors, developing strategies to address affordability and the child-care workforce, boosting inclusion for children with special needs and drafting a provincial definition of quality in early-years programs for kids up to age 12.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
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Childcare Expense Tax Breaks Need New Approach
… the report proposes switching from the current tax deduction to a generous federal refundable tax credit model – along the lines of Quebec’s existing tax credit – that would considerably lower the effective price of childcare for low- to middle-income families, with the net gains from the credit slowly vanishing at higher income levels… for the federal government, which would be instituting the childcare fiscal subsidy, induced tax revenues would reduce the cost of financing the program. For provincial governments, new tax revenues generated by extra maternal work would be a windfall that could be used to fund other priorities.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, women
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The case for abolishing solitary confinement
… some sort of segregation will continue to be needed for inmates at risk of assault, such as sex offenders and police officers liable to retaliation. Yet there is no reason why this should amount to the extreme deprivation of solitary confinement. With electronic communications, telephones, books and visits it should be possible for inmates to avoid mental deterioration… Solitary confinement should be abolished, not only for juveniles and the mentally ill (priorities), but all solitary, for federal and provincial/territorial prisons.
Tags: crime prevention, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, standard of living
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Call inquest into group home deaths
There’s concern about minimum standards – including the frequency of fire inspections and whether homes have proper fire safety plans. Beyond that, staff in these homes have no minimum training requirements and tend to be poorly paid. It’s a formula for failure. Ontario has more than 15,000 young people in foster and group homes. There’s plenty of evidence that they don’t get the kind of care they deserve…
Tags: crime prevention, Health, Indigenous, mental Health, standard of living, youth
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Ontario must limit use of solitary confinement
… while Ontario’s prison population dropped by 11 per cent over the last 10 years, the number of inmates held in segregation actually went up by 24 per cent. Disturbingly… the share of segregation cells occupied by prisoners with mental health issues increased from 32 per cent to 45 per cent between 2015 and 2016 alone… The aim should be to ensure that prisoners leave jail rehabilitated, not broken.
Tags: corrections, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
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Solitary confinement: Why is Ontario willing to do what Ottawa won’t?
Prisons are challenging places, and correctional officers prefer to govern with flexible discretion and no external interference. But the issue is that inmate isolation is a practice that engages fundamental human rights and dignity. As Mr. Sapers puts it: “the decision to place a person in segregation results in the most complete deprivation of liberty authorized by law.” In a country like Canada, this is properly the stuff of careful rules and external oversight.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, mental Health, rights, standard of living
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