Editor's note: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
The Ford government is looking for an auditor to take stock of how child welfare agencies are spending taxpayers’ money amid increasing concern about a crisis in the system.
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services announced Wednesday it’s launching a procurement process to find an external firm to audit Ontario’s 37 non-Indigenous Children’s Aid Societies.
It comes as child welfare leaders and workers, as well as parents involved with the system, have gone to the media to describe a system stretched to a breaking point because of a lack of provincially funded community support for children’s well-being, like mental health care and developmental services.
It also follows allegations from the premier that some child welfare agencies are abusing taxpayers’ money by working in buildings he described as “Taj Mahals.”
According to a background media briefing by ministry staff, the audit will cover financial issues, including executive compensation, operational cost structures, capital assets, value-for-money and contracting costs.
It will also consider outcomes and regulatory compliance, staffing and governance models, how well the agencies work with other community organizations, and how consistent services are across different agencies.
Premier Doug Ford announced an audit of the child welfare system in August in response to a question from The Trillium about the increasing number of Ontario parents who are surrendering custody of kids with high needs to children’s aid societies — not because they've abused or neglected them, but because they cannot find the services and support they need to keep them safe at home.
While the ministry’s presentation to the media made no mention of children with complex special needs, they will be considered, a ministry official said in response to a question from The Trillium, because the auditor will be tasked with considering cost drivers.
That did not sit well with a parent involved with the child welfare system, who said she found it “incredibly disappointing” and “just disgusting.”
“So you're just simply putting dollar amounts on these kids’ heads?” she said.
This mother, who is not being identified to protect the identity of her child, adopted a child with complex needs but had to surrender them back to the care of the child welfare system when she could not get adequate support.
She and other parents of children with complex mental health, behavioural and developmental needs shared their stories with The Trillium in hopes of convincing the government to make real change in the system that is struggling to care for their children.
She was also dismayed that, according to the ministry briefing, whether or not the review will include input from youth and families involved with or seeking services through the child welfare system has yet to be determined.
The government said these decisions would be made once a party is selected to complete the audit.
“I think that if you're going to conduct an audit at this scale and not include the voices of the parents and the people in the community that are actually being impacted by this, it's a waste of money, it's a waste of time, and it's just more political BS,” the mother said.
Overall, she said she wanted to see the government take concrete steps to improve the system rather than continue to point fingers and cast blame.
In a statement, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Michael Parsa, who is responsible for the child welfare system, said that children are “falling through the cracks” even though his government has increased funding to children’s aid societies.
In their presentation to media, ministry staff also stressed that funding for the child welfare system has risen over the past decade and, at $1.7 billion this year, is at a record high. However, when inflation is considered, funding has been cut overall on a real-dollar basis even as the province’s population has grown.
At the same time, the number of kids in societies’ care, the number of open child protection cases and the number of investigations conducted have declined.
“We know more needs to be done to ensure that every dollar is spent effectively on supporting these children and youth,” Parsa said. “That’s why we are taking this next step with a sector-wide review to better understand the pressures children’s aid societies face and to ensure they remain focused on providing high-quality services and support while protecting children receiving services from societies."
The province’s former child advocate called the government’s planned review “intensely disrespectful” of children and families.
“In the face of families being torn asunder, in the face of children in harm’s way due to the collapse of the service systems, including child protection, meant to support them, this audit is intensely disrespectful and will do nothing to ease the crisis the government has created over six years,” said Irwin Elman.
Elman argued that he doesn’t think the audit is being centred around children.
While the government has noted a decrease of youth in care over the last decade, the former child advocate said children are “not doing well because they can't get and their families can't get the services that they require.”
He further stressed his belief that the review is more about money than children’s well-being after hearing the review will only include the 37 non-Indigenous Children’s Aid Societies and not 13 Indigenous child and family well-being agencies.
The ministry cited Bill C-92, federal legislation recognizing Indigenous peoples' right to develop their own child welfare laws, as the reason for these agencies not being included in the review, saying it is working with First Nations on this.
“If the government dares cast its eyes onto Indigenous children in this province, they will understand that Indigenous children have been living in the crisis that has now visited all children in the province for decades, and no amount of smoke and mirrors is going to be able to cover that up,” he said.
Elman also took issue with the ministry hiring a firm to conduct the review.
“Why don’t they give it to the auditor general? They don't want that, because it's independent and transparent,” he said. “They want to find exactly what they want to find, that's how this works.
A final report is expected next spring. Ministry officials wouldn’t say what potential outcomes of the audit could include.
MPP Monique Taylor, the NDP’s critic for children, community and social services, said youth need assistance now and can’t wait for a report that is months away.
“They need the system to work for them now. We cannot keep failing these children. We cannot look away in Ontario another day,” she said.
Since Ford announced the audit, a series of damning media reports have followed: the Toronto Star has reported deeply on the death of the Neveah — a child whose body was found in a Rosedale dumpster and who had been in the care of both the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and York Region Children’s Aid Society, but was returned to her mother before she died.
The Star has also launched a series about children with complex needs in CAS care.
And Global News has reported on data showing that every three days, a child who has been involved with Ontario’s care system dies.
All of it makes the mother who was upset to hear that children like hers are to be considered as cost drivers frustrated that the government is pursuing an audit rather than real change.
“To prevent that girl’s death in Toronto, was there X amount of dollars that was going to keep her out of that dumpster?”
