Latest news with #ChildandYouthWell-BeingAct
CBC
01-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Advocate demands proof of new child welfare spending from government
New Brunswick's child and youth watchdog will require government to report quarterly on whether new funding for child welfare is being spent as promised. This comes a week after Kelly Lamrock said the budget for the upcoming year would be "devastating" to children and youth in the province's care. "I have advised the Department of Social Development that we will be exercising the advocate's powers under the Child, Youth and Senior Advocate Act to require quarterly reporting on the prevention and intervention measures contained in the Child and Youth Well-Being Act, including integrated services," Lamrock said in a statement Wednesday. "The minister has set the target of ensuring that the $17.2 million in announced money is truly spent on new services, and therefore we should see just over $4 million more per quarter being invested in these services. We will monitor and advise the legislative assembly if this is the case." Lamrock said he chose to exercise that authority after hearing concerns from the community and front-line workers about the department's child welfare budget. His office reported last week that the department will have $47.1 million less to spend this year on child welfare services. That's because this year's budget is $23.5 million less than what the department actually spent last year — while the department has also promised $23.6 million for new additions to wages and services. Lamrock said the minister has advised $17.2 million of that latter total will be put to child and youth services, including early interventions. Minister of Social Development Cindy Miles has disputed that the budget was cut, as this year's budget estimate — while lower than last year's actual spending — is greater than last year's budget estimate. "That was last year, and we feel that we can deliver the supports and services that young folks need with what we've budgeted," Miles said. "Redirecting funds to get the best impact and to best support young folks is what this budget is about." Miles didn't specify from where that funding would be re-directed. CBC requested comment from Miles but did not receive a response Wednesday. In the statement, Lamrock noted department officials can face obstruction charges if "misleading answers" are given under questioning from the advocate's office. "In that forum, department officials did not contest the findings of our report and reported that there was no evidence to support a reduction in demand when the budget was made," Lamrock said. "The fact that I am skeptical that the new money can be provided, and the reduction targets met, does not pre-empt government trying new things." Lamrock said he hopes the minister's evaluation — that the budget reduction won't lead to service cuts — is correct. "I admit the math seems daunting to me," he said in an interview. "I'm not sure how they're going to, but ... let's turn on the scoreboard and play the game. They say they can do this. I'm just here to keep score and make sure they really do."
CBC
28-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Social development minister downplays youth advocate's worries about budget cuts
Minister Cindy Miles stresses opportunity to do things differently with this budget Image | Cindy Miles - Minister of Social Development Caption: Minister of Social Development Cindy Miles said the budget for child welfare services increased by $26 million this year. (Radio-Canada) Open Image in New Tab New Brunswick's Social Development minister does not share the same fears about the province's child welfare budget as the province's child and youth advocate. Advocate Kelly Lamrock released a report on Thursday that took issue with what he calls the largest cut to the child welfare budget in decades. His report said Social Development's $208.3-million budget for this year falls short of the $231.9 million spent on those same child welfare services last year. But Minister Cindy Miles doesn't agree that the budget has been cut. "Last year was budgeted $181 million, and this year was budgeted $208 million, so up $26 million," Miles said Monday during an interview with Information Morning Fredericton. While that is the case, Lamrock said last week that because the actual cost came in higher than the estimate last year, the department is effectively being asked to reduce its spending on services to children in care by $23 million. He also said since the budget speech also pledged $23.6 million for new wage increases and services, he said, existing services will be in a $46.6-million shortfall. When asked about that, Miles didn't directly address the accusation. "What I'm saying is that we haven't had a chance to sit down with the advocate to really go through what are the opportunities that are existing now with this budget and with the Child and Youth Well-Being Act," she said when asked if she thought Lamrock's calculations were incorrect "I believe Mr. Lamrock said that he had gone back to [the] finance board to talk to them, but they wouldn't have those breakdowns of what moving forward looks like," she said. "So I look forward to the opportunity coming up in the next few months to really sit down with the advocate's office." Miles said the budget was reflective of "wanting to do things differently and putting youth at the centre of everything that we do." In Lamrock's report, he recommended that the departments of Finance and Social Development reconsider the funding cuts. Miles said right now, that's not on the table. "We'll go back with the social development team and look at all the recommendations that the advocate has made," she said. "But this budget, we can really do things differently, and we need to do things differently."
CBC
07-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Province's approach in child-custody case goes against law's intent, court says
Social Sharing New Brunswick's Child and Youth Well-Being Act has been in effect for a year, and there are contradictory accounts of how it has changed the government's approach to child-custody cases. According to the Department of Social Development, there are improvements, but a recent New Brunswick Court of Appeal decision suggests officials don't always act in the spirit of the legislation's "child-centric" philosophy. "Anecdotally we're seeing the evidence its getting better," the deputy minister, Jim Mehan, told the legislature's public accounts committee last week, though he acknowledged there isn't enough data to say for sure. In the court of appeal case, Justice Kathleen Quigg wrote that the province's approach in the case of a 12-year-old boy "is inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the act." Quigg said in a 25-page decision that the province's logic would lead to an "absurd" phenomenon of everyone but a child's parent having the right to ask the court for permission to have contact with a child. "An interpretation that accepts arbitrary distinctions or promotes inefficiencies within the justice system cannot be adopted, because the legislature does not intend absurd consequences," she wrote. This ignores the child's rights rather than focusing on them. - Justice Kathleen Quigg The Child and Youth Well-Being Act was adopted by the legislature in 2022 but only took legal effect in January 2024. It was designed to improve how the province handles child protection cases — situations where the government must step in and remove a child from their parents' custody for the child's own safety or well-being. The new legislation added, for example, the ability for the province to place a child in the care of relatives, to preserve family connections. "The old act was more supporting the parents. The new act is more focused on the child," Mehan said at the committee session. But in the case of the boy identified only as "B.," the three appeal court justices concluded the province wasn't living up to that. WATCH | 'Absurd': Top court criticizes New Brunswick in guardianship case: Province didn't live up to intent of new child protection act, court says 4 hours ago Duration 1:55 The ruling said that B.'s father had "struggled to take care of him" and the province took over guardianship of the boy and placed him a group home. There was still "a loving relationship," however, so the judge in the custody hearing gave B.'s father, C.G., the right to have regular contact with his son. The province appealed that decision, arguing only the minister has that authority under a section of the act that says the minister has "the sole discretion" to grant a request from a parent for contact. The appeal court upheld the granting of contact to the father, concluding that the wording of the law doesn't explicitly preclude it. "To prevent courts from ordering contact, then wait for the minister to decide whether to grant contact, and possibly have to further wait for judicial review of the Minister's decision if the minister denies the former parent contact" was inconsistent with the act, she wrote. Those delays "could, in some cases, work against the concept of the best interests of the child and these integral connections" with family members, she continued. A spokesperson for the department would not comment on the ruling or say whether it will try to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. "The department is still reviewing the decision," Kate Wright said in an email. "The department will respond in due time if necessary." Green Party MLA Megan Mitton said Quigg's ruling raised an important issue. "The act, I guess, isn't making a difference in every case that it should, because prioritizing kinship — prioritizing the well-being of child and youth in the system which is meant to serve them — was the whole idea, so if that's not happening, it's frustrating," she said. The ruling pointed out that B. himself wanted to maintain contact with his father. Mehan said last week at the committee session that a key feature of the new act was "the focus on the rights of the child … and ensuring the child is heard in that decision-making." Quigg's ruling pointed out that nothing in the new act lets a child request contact, leaving it up to the parent, who may lack the resources or capacity to pursue it.
