LONDON - MPP Peggy Sattler (London West) wrote to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services to urge the government to ensure that the Children's Aid Society of London & Middlesex has the funding necessary to fully meet its child protection and child welfare mandate.
Read the full letter below.
Hon. Michael Parsa
Minister of Children, Community and Social Services
7th Flr, 438 University Ave, Toronto, ON M5G 2K8
August 2, 2024
Dear Minister,
I am writing today to urgently request that you invest in community services and social infrastructure to support our children, including funding the Children’s Aid Society of London & Middlesex (CASLM) to the level needed to fully meet its mandate.
CASLM’s deficit has grown rapidly due to increasing costs to provide residential placements, a continued shortage of mental health services available in the community, and the costs to remediate your government’s unconstitutional wage-suppression policies under Bill 124. Last year, CASLM had a budget deficit of $3.88 million, but this year projected a $9.1 million shortfall. The organization has undertaken an exhaustive assessment to identify cost savings, but Executive Director Chris Tremeer has been clear that the agency cannot eliminate the deficit through expenditure cuts alone. Provincial investment is desperately needed.
Government underfunding of Children’s Aid Societies has created a child welfare emergency across Ontario. In 2023-24, ten agencies had deficits, but CASLM is now one of 30 agencies projecting 2024-25 deficits totalling approximately $68 million. A funding gap of this size will undoubtedly undermine the ability to provide adequate services and care to Ontario youth and their families. Here in London and Middlesex, budget pressures have already forced the agency to layoff 19 unionized positions and 4 management positions from their staff, and scale back programs that provide support for family visits and kinship care. Workers are warning that these cuts will have a dramatic impact on children and youth, as well as a spillover effect on other social service and community agencies. I strongly urge you to significantly and immediately increase funding for CASLM so that it can maintain the necessary level of service despite rising costs and growing demand.
The most significant factor driving up the need for CASLM services is an increase in the number of children who are not able to access the complex care they need through community-based services. Youth are being declined placements in children’s mental health facilities because their behaviours are not manageable with current resources. Unable to access the therapies, behavioural supports, mental health or addictions treatments they need, many families are turning to Children’s Aid for help. Agencies and families alike would benefit from a provincially coordinated approach that includes additional funding for community mental health services and program updates to accommodate youth who are currently turned away. This would reduce demand for Children’s Aid agencies while keeping families together to give children their best chance of successful treatment.
In addition, CASLM is working to create a series of 2-person care homes that would help stabilize and provide emergency placements for those youth who need support to be ready to access treatment programs in the community. I implore you to provide every resource necessary to get these homes up and running as soon as possible.
Minister, the full spectrum of critical youth services is in absolute crisis in this province, and it is vulnerable children that are paying the price for your failure to fund the care they need. I urge you to act swiftly to protect and prioritize youth in our province by increasing funding for the organizations that work to ensure a safe, healthy future for children, including the Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex.
Sincerely,
Peggy Sattler, MPP London West