The Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society (KHCAS) will not be shutting its office in Haliburton after all.
In August 2024, the agency announced its intention to close the doors at 73 Victoria St. and drop one full-time staff member.
However, on Oct. 23 of that year, the provincial government appointed a temporary supervisor for the KHCAS, saying it no longer had confidence in the society’s ability to address its operational issues and growing deficit. On the same day, the board of KHCAS announced they had tendered their resignations.
Rosaleen Cutler was appointed as supervisor to oversee and operate the society.
On Nov. 7, the KHCAS announced a new board of directors was in place.
The Highlander reached out to KHCAS last week as there was nothing publicly stated about the Haliburton office or its staffing. Cutler, now executive director, confirmed that “after consultation with other agencies and internal discussions, the agency has determined that maintaining an office in Haliburton is a good plan. KHCAS will continue renting space in Haliburton. This decision has been shared within service agencies, and we apologize if broader community communication was not addressed earlier.”
Culter added, “agency-wide, we did have a job loss, however, it did not affect our Haliburton office.”
The agency said Len Lifchus is the new chair of the board for a two-year term. Joining Lifchus are: Arnold Taylor, Allison Sadowski, Blake Jeffries (treasurer), J. Murray Jones, and John Corso (vice-chair).
“Their collective expertise will help guide the agency as it continues to strengthen its child welfare services, financial sustainability efforts and partnerships within the community,” KHCAS said.
Cutler has led the agency over the last 13 months in the development of a deficit management plan and implementing recommendations from the organization’s operational review. She will continue to lead during the recruitment of a permanent executive director.
Cutler said, “Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society has experienced some significant changes over the last few years. I look forward to supporting the board in its establishment of priorities while providing strategic leadership and guidance within agency operations as we move forward.”
Marg Cox, executive director of Point in Time Centre for Children, Youth and Parents, said they were “so pleased” the local office is going to remain open.
“CAS services are not intended to be punitive – and sometimes families reach out directly for help and that is so much harder to do without a local office,” she said. “Having a local office means staff live locally and do not waste a lot of time on the road to get here, understand the community because they do live here, and are more likely to be able to build collaborative relationships with staff from other organizations, like ours.
Cox added, “this means we can team up to provide complementary and supportive services together more often. It also means that the community has a more local location than needing to travel to Lindsay or Peterborough.”
The Point in Time ED said it is also an equity issue. “Haliburtonians deserve a local office, an access point, staff rooted in our community. Gas prices, vehicle prices, poor internet and connectivity, lack of devices, etc., are real barriers that are eased through local geographic access.”
It’s also about trust and relationships, she said. “Trust is earned, and relationships are often built on trust – much easier to build trust and have solid helping relationships when both staff and people utilizing services have less time travelling and more time and access to meet in person.
“It’s not easy to overturn decisions – but so glad that this decision has been overturned allowing for a local presence of KHCAS.”
