NDP criticizes cuts to child welfare system
Province reveals two more children died in government care
NDP Leader Rachel Notley on Monday criticized the Tories for cutting nearly $ 50 million from child intervention and related services on the same day the government revealed two more children had died inside the child welfare system.
As the government tabled the spring budget last Thursday, officials revealed online that two more teens had died in provincial care this year, she said. On Monday, they disclosed that two additional children had died — including a three month old.
The four deaths bring the total number of child welfare fatalities to 33 this year, up from 24 last year — a 37 per cent increase, and a record high.
“At a time where we’ve seen the number of child fatalities jump ... we should not be taking $ 50 million out of the system,” Notley said Monday.
“We’re asking these vulnerable citizens to pay the price of this government’s commitment to keeping corporate taxes off the table for friends and insiders.”
In the 2015- 16 budget, Notley said the Progressive Conservative government cut $ 27 million from child intervention, $ 2 million from Outreach Support Services, $ 4.7 million from Early Intervention Services for Children and Youth and $ 15.2 million from the Family and Community Safety Program.
She said the $ 48.9 million in cuts to these programs will directly affect at- risk children.
“There is certainly no direct link between deaths and budget dollars,” Human Services Minister Heather Klimchuk said, noting funding increased in last year’s budget, and the number of deaths went up. “I believe child intervention should be an act of last resort.”
She said her ministry has seen an overall 1.8 per cent increase in funding, and that no front- line child intervention workers will be cut, and there are no funding cuts to foster parents.
She said the province is focusing on — and investing in — other areas of the system. She said the Tories are spending more money to support families so they can keep their children at home, and helping foster families and others move toward adoption and similar permanent placements.
The province has seen an 18 per cent increase in children going to permanent placements, Klimchuk said.
She noted that of the 52,000 intakes, screenings and assessments conducted for vulnerable children last year, families were referred to community supports nine out of 10 times.