Alberta budget cuts funding for Child and Youth Support Program

Critics are decrying a budget decision from the province that would see funding for a program to help vulnerable children and youth cut entirely.

An Alberta government memorandum circulating on social media says the Ministry of Children and Family Services will no longer provide benefits to caregivers in the Child and Youth Support Program (CYSP) as of Sept. 1.

As of March 28, the ministry is also no longer accepting any new applications or processing any eligibility reviews.

According to the province’s website, the CYSP provides financial and medical benefits for a child when the parents or guardians are unable or unwilling to care for the child. These benefits are also available when the child is being cared for in another home of an adult caregiver and the child or youth is not in need of intervention services.

In the letter, assistant deputy minister of Alberta’s Child Intervention Delivery Division, David Wheeler, says the ministry’s budget passed last month focuses on prioritizing core intervention programs that keep kids safe, supporting early intervention for children, youth, and families, and assisting Albertans who experience family violence and sexual violence.

“This focus has meant changes to other areas, including the CYSP, which will be discontinued as funding for the program has ceased,” he wrote. “I want to acknowledge that this announcement may be difficult to hear and that is affects each of you differently, as well as the children and youth that you have opened your homes to.”

Children and Family Services tells 660 NewsRadio in a statement that discontinuation of the program doesn’t impact caregivers of kids in the Child Intervention System, including kinship, foster, or permanency.

“The program had minimal uptake, and about 650 caregivers will see changes,” said Daniel Verrier, press secretary, Children and Family Services.

Verrier adds the funding is being reallocated to better serve the needs of families through the Alberta Child and Family Benefit, increasing Foster Caregiver rates by an additional two per cent from the previous 4.2 per cent increase last June, and addressing the increasing complexities in caseload within the Child Intervention System.

Additional supports and services will still be available through Family Resource Networks, the province says.

Opposition calls cuts ‘cruel’

Alberta’s NDP is lambasting the government for this move, calling it cruel.

“UCP claims that other supports are available ignores the reality faced by low-income families. Alberta now has two-tiered, a la carte childcare where some children in daycare will not be fed or be able to participate in activities because the costs are simply too high,” NDP Shadow Minister for Children and Family Services, Diana Batten, said in a statement.

The Opposition is calling for the reinstatement of the program, saying it is currently failing in its responsibility to care for vulnerable Albertans.