Board of directors of Brant Family and Children’s Services intends to resign because underfunding has put the safety of vulnerable children ‘at risk’
It said cuts and underfunding were affecting operations
BRANTFORD — The board of directors of Brant Family and Children’s Services intends to resign Friday, saying provincial underfunding has “put the safety of our community’s vulnerable children at risk.”
In turn, the Ontario government said it would appoint a supervisor to manage the agency.
The move by the board’s 11 members to resign en masse comes after several years of warnings from the Brantford-based children’s aid society. It said cuts and underfunding were affecting operations, resulting in pay freezes, reduced on-call pay for social workers and the layoff of 26 staff.
“The primary responsibility of Brant FACS is to protect children in the community,” Paul Whittam, president of the agency’s board, said in a press release Tuesday.
“The board takes this responsibility very seriously and we believe that government underfunding has put the safety of our community’s vulnerable children at risk. It is no longer possible to fulfil our mandate.”
The board includes a doctor, police officer, school board superintendent, educators and a band council representative from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
“The provincial government has refused to provide the funding necessary to confirm for the board that Brant FACS can ensure the safety of our community’s vulnerable children,” read the release.
“The deficit incurred by the agency over the past two years is the direct result of imposed government decisions, directives and underfunding. The model used to determine Brant FACS funding was arbitrarily changed, which further added significant financial stress to an already unbearable situation.”
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services had conducted a review of Brant FACS earlier this year. Despite the funding issues, “initial verbal feedback” from the ministry suggested the agency was “wellgoverned, operated efficiently and had sufficient financial controls in place,” the agency said in its release.
In response to questions, a spokesperson for the office of Minister Todd Smith sent an emailed statement saying the “ministry has been taking the necessary steps to ensure that the board’s decision has no impact on the safety of children in care.”
Since 2015, there “have been numerous attempts by multiple governments” to “assist Brant FACS to make decisions that are consistent with its mandate,” including regular deficit reporting and reviews of finances, said the statement.
“We are fully committed to supporting the staff at Brant FACS as they continue to deliver valuable services to the community. That is why the government will appoint a supervisor to operate and manage the affairs of Brant FACS so that services are transitioned seamlessly.”
Andrew Koster, the agency’s executive director, thanked the board for its work in the press release and noted that it had been “incredibly supportive over this difficult period.”
On vacation overseas, Koster told the Hamilton Spectator’s Katrina Clarke that the board “thinks that if the ministry ... took over this agency, they wouldn’t dare make further cuts, just in case any children died on their watch directly.”
The board is “at the end of their rope; they’re tired, they’re emotionally exhausted trying to get the ministry to change their mind,” said Koster, who isn’t sure whether he’ll be part of Brant’s future, either.
“It’s possible that if they take over the agency, they won’t want me around,” he said. “Honestly, I’d rather be running a deficit and not make the cuts than make the cuts and have a child die.”
Brant receives around $24 million a year from the province and has a deficit of $2 million, he said.
Nicole Bonnie, head of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, said in a statement that Brant board members “have made a very difficult decision to resign from their positions” and that the “financial pressures they are facing are similar to what many children’s aid societies and Indigenous child and family well-being agencies in Ontario are facing.”