The Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society (KHCAS) has announced plans to shutter its branch at 73 Victoria St. in Haliburton next year, and drop one full-time staff member, although the agency says it will continue to offer its services across the County.
Jennifer McLauchlan, executive director of the KHCAS, said, “from the community perspective, what they’re not going to see is a physical presence. Although we are committed to working with our community service partners in the Haliburton and Minden area to find an alternative location, that we could partner and work out of another space while we get our financial situation back in order. Then we can reconsider whether or not there is a physical office required.”
The one full-time lay-off will reduce the number from three full-time, two-part time and a shared manager with Lindsay and will occur between now and March 31, 2025. The office is slated to close April 1, 2025.
The KHCAS is currently working with approximately 30 families in Haliburton. Head office is in Peterborough with another branch in Lindsay. McLauchlan said most of the outreach work is done in client family homes, or within the community. They have remote work agreements with staff as a result of COVID and most employees work from home, with access to the office.
Overall, 24 full-time equivalent positions, affecting 25 people, will be eliminated across the three locations.
As for local layoffs, McLauchlan said, “the concern is with fewer staff doing the same amount of work, staff will be impacted by having more of the same work to do. What we’re looking at doing internally is working with the staff in terms of ‘how do we deliver the same level of service’?”
County demands meeting with province
Ruby Taylor is OPSEU local 334 president, which represents impacted workers. She said the union is concerned about not having a presence in Haliburton County. She added with the loss of one worker “our worry is for the safety of the children and the work that we do with families in that community with less people.” She said they were already understaffed, even before the cuts, so it impacts remaining workers
Operating in deficit
KHCAS said the reason for the measures is the society has been in a deficit position the last two years. The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services does not allow that. It’s forced a deficit management plan.
The KHCAS attributed the deficit to years of funding reductions, increased costs, increased complexity of need, and the lack of services required by legislation within the funding allocation.
McLauchlan elaborated waitlists are growing and they don’t have enough foster families, paying them $50a-day, so are having to use outside paid resources, largely for-profit, and licensed by the ministry, which can cost between $400 and up to $2,600a-day. Part of the plan is to boost the number of foster families.
It is looking to cut $7.6 million out of a $22 million budget.
KHCAS board chair Sandra Robinson said decisions, “were not made lightly, especially related to reducing staff. We know the leadership team and staff are firmly committed to delivering quality services to children, youth and families and they will work together to maintain these services to ensure child safety and well-being.”
McLauchlan added, “this is a very difficult time for our staff. The priority moving forward will be to focus on how we deliver services, and to work with community service providers to strengthen services that support children, youth and families, while supporting our staff through the transition.”
KHCAS is not alone in facing financial challenges in delivering mandated services. Over half of child welfare agencies in the province were projecting deficits at the end of last fiscal year.
“The Ontario child welfare sector needs sustainable, stable funding to ensure agencies can deliver high-quality, traumainformed, culturally-relevant care. They also need an updated funding formula that truly prioritizes early intervention, prevention, and continued connections to kin, community and culture,” the KHCAS said.
They added, “the Ontario government needs to make targeted investments to strengthen social infrastructure in communities across the province so that human and community services organizations and providers can deliver vital support to children, youth and families at the right time, close to home.”
Point in Time and County respond
Marg Cox is the executive director of Point in Time Centre for Children, Youth and Parents, based out of Haliburton.
She said the KHCAS situation is “very complex and sad. We certainly understand the agency is mandated to drastically cut costs and still provide essential service, however there needs to be some changes to allow for cost-effective investments that will increase local placements, like reimbursement for kinship care, and higher rates of remuneration for foster parents overseen by the agency.”
She added Point is Time is committed to collaborating with KHCAS, “to ensure we’re doing everything we can so Haliburton children and families receive the support and service they require.”
County of Haliburton representative to Point in Time, Jennifer Dailloux, raised the issue at a July 24 council meeting. “This is pretty serious stuff. It will have important and unforeseen consequences for our children and also for our local service providers, such as Point in Time,” she said.
Dailloux added Point in Time is monitoring the situation and, “anticipating a potential uptick in crisis calls if the Children’s Aid Society is not able to offer the same level of service to families in crisis as it has up to now. It’s really big news.”
Council passed a resolution to inform Premier Doug Ford about the “harmful cuts” that will have an “extreme negative impact.” They have also demanded a meeting with Ford, minister Michael Parsa, and MPP Laurie Scott.
