Ford’s cut to child welfare funding puts vulnerable youth at serious risk

QUEEN’S PARK — In question period today, Monique Taylor, Ontario NDP critic for Children and Youth Services, said the Ford government’s $84-million cut to child welfare funding will put vulnerable children and youth served by children’s aid societies and those in the justice system at even greater risk.

“Children and youth in foster care or in the justice system are already vulnerable. They need the utmost protection and support, access to education and health care and social supports. Eventually, they need help preparing for the workforce,” Taylor said. “Unfortunately, we know that children’s aid societies in Ontario are already stretched to the limit in terms of resources.”

“Instead of making children’s aid societies better equipped to nurture and protect our most vulnerable children and youth, the Ford government is making cuts on the backs of the vulnerable —something we see Ford do a lot.”

Of the $84 million the Conservatives are cutting from the province’s child welfare funding, an estimated $28 million could come directly from children’s aid.

“Children’s aid societies and their staff need more resources, not cuts,” Taylor said. “Children and youth in care and in the justice system deserve so much better than a government that slashes funding at their expense, and puts them at further disadvantage and risk.”