Funding change in works for child advocacy centres
Government aims to bring consistency, equality to the province’s six facilities
The Alberta government is changing how it funds organizations that help abused children, bringing in a funding model that will see more money go to every centre in the province with the exception of Calgary.
UCP Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz made the announcement at Edmonton’s Zebra Child Protection Centre Friday, with one of the centre’s two therapy dogs at her feet.
Under the new funding model, the government’s $3.4-million-ayear commitment to Alberta’s six child advocacy centres will not change. Centres will, however, in some cases receive more money over a new three-year funding cycle.
“One of the challenges is each of these centres has developed at a different point in time with different organizational structures,” Schulz said. “The government’s role, responsibility and accountability for services and funding has been unclear and inconsistent.”
As a result, “significant inequities have developed between centres,” she said.
Alberta’s six child advocacy centres — based in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Grande Prairie,
Lloydminster and Fort Mcmurray — conduct forensic interviews with child abuse victims and prepare children to testify in court.
They also conduct victim advocacy and, in some cases, provide service dogs to accompany children to trials (Zebra Centre’s longtime service dog, Wren, will be retiring next week after seven years on the job).
Before the creation of the centres, children usually had to report abuse in sterile, intimidating environments like police stations or hospitals, Zebra Centre chairwoman Allison Mccollum said. Zebra’s offices in downtown Edmonton, on the other hand, have child-friendly interview rooms and specialists who deal with trauma.
Under the new funding model, Zebra Centre’s funding will rise to just over $1 million dollars a year by 2022-23 — the end of the three-year funding cycle — from $712,000 in 2019.
The Calgary and Area Child Advocacy Centre’s (CCAC) funding, meanwhile, will fall to $1.3 million from $1.9 million over the same time period. Schulz said that as it stands now, the CCAC receives double Zebra’s per-case funding.
Schulz said doling out funds in three-year increments will reduce administrative costs for both the government and the centres, which are all non-profits. She added work on the new model began under the previous NDP government.
“Predictable funding is often the first ask of many non-profits,” she said.
Like other centres, the CCAC relies on both government funding and support from the private sector.
Karen Orser, head of the CCAC, was relieved funding for child advocacy centres isn’t being cut.
She was also pleased the funding decrease is in phases, “so it does allow us to be thoughtful and intentional as we strive to make the best use of our existing resources and plan to replace the revenue.”
She added that with overall funding staying flat, inflation is a concern.
“We always do our best, and we know the community cares about child abuse,” she said. “We know they’ll continue to support the work that we do.”
Predictable funding is often the first ask of many non-profits.