Higher living standards will help
Re Meet the grandma who lost 3 grandkids over a home that needed repairs,
March 12 Child “protection” services takes three kids away from family because the house needs repairs?!
This story confirms how disconnected the government is with families and property owners and with the challenges of life in Toronto. Such government action is irresponsible, heartless, self-serving and downright disgusting. Taking children from their families and placing them in foster homes because a house needs repairs demonstrates a total lack of understanding of children’s needs, disrespect for families and indifference to the nature of poverty in Ontario.
Moreover, public funding for foster families and for repairs to foster housing is a redundant expenditure, especially while the working poor are squeezed with higher taxes, outrageous utility charges and the weight of a massive welfare state.
It is unfair and a dangerous misuse of public funds and public mandates.
Intimidation and humiliation of families whose housing or diet may not resemble that of well-paid public officials are behaviours that do not belong in Canada. Although many of us endured such interference in the 19th and 20th centuries, it has no place in a 21st-century nation that claims to be inclusive.
Home is where the family is. It can be a yurt or a log cabin with or without indoor plumbing or electricity. Child protection must begin with family protection.
Only an unrestrained and profligate government would harass and punish families for not meeting western, middle-class standards that have become increasingly unattainable. Increasing taxation with the concurrent suppression of wages is the bane of families across Ontario.
If government desires higher living standards for children, it should ensure that their parents have higher disposable incomes. Stella Kargiannakis, Toronto