Governments across Canada are tight for money and cutting budgets for many social services, but slashing funds for an agency that investigates the deaths of children receiving child services seems particularly cruel.
Canadian children may be removed from their families if they are found to be at risk there. This may be because parents are addicted or abusive or otherwise unable to care for their children. In such cases, the government tries to place children with foster families willing to take them with compensation of between $23 to just over $30 a day. Extra money is paid for specific requirements like recreation.
Fewer families foster
Fewer people are willing to take on foster children for several reasons: in many families women now work so no one is at home during the day, costs of caring for children are increasing and children’s issues are becoming more complex. Children may suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, addiction, sexual abuse and they may get involved in gangs.
The lack of foster placements means some teens are placed in hotels with supervision. One such teenage girl was recently attacked, viciously beaten and left for dead in the province of Manitoba. On other occasions, authorities are not able to screen foster families adequately to ensure they do not have histories of sexual or child abuse, or other criminal backgrounds.
Children receiving child services have died
A four-year investigation by two newspapers in the western province of Alberta revealed that more than 750 children receiving child services have died since 1999. This oil-producing province has suffered a sharp drop in revenues due the drop in prices for crude. The Globe and Mail reports that the when the government made budget cuts “the axe fell first on the agency that investigates the deaths of children in cares.” That government is facing an election.
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