Province cuts five Summerside jobs

Funding for youth counselling program slashed

SUMMERSIDE — Five employees at Summerside’s Child and Family Services office are losing their jobs as part of a government cost-cutting measure.

Community Services Minister Valerie Docherty confirmed Thursday that the department’s “Family Ties” counselling service is being cut in Prince County.

Four full-time and one part-time family support workers are affected by the measure, which the department said represents an annual cost saving of $268,000.

“(Family Ties) is counselling-type services we provide to children between the ages of 12 and 18 and their families. These would be children that would be identified through our child protection services,” said Docherty.

“We would never make this decision if we felt there would be any negative impact on the level of service. The children themselves are the utmost priority to us, and we believe that this is not going to have an impact on them.”

Child and Family Services employ 16 employees at offices in both Summerside and Charlottetown. Docherty said no workers at the Charlottetown office are affected by this cut.

Children are referred to the Family Ties program by the department’s social and youth workers. The family support workers then provide the clients with counseling. Docherty said workloads have changed to the point that social workers and youth workers can now provide the counselling services.

“We don’t know what’s happening in the lives of children and families all the time, but we’ll make sure the staff that remain will be able to address any issues that come along,” she said.

Child and Family Services also employ an Aboriginal co-ordinator and an administrative worker. Neither is affected by the cut.

Docherty said there will be other opportunities within government for the family support workers who are losing their jobs.

“Not only across the civil service, but specifically in my own department, we do have some vacancies. They will have first option at those vacancies,” she said.

“The intent is not to see them go home, it’s to see them relocated ... within their own department or somewhere else in government.”