SIMCOE COUNTY - The Simcoe County Children's Aid Society could be bankrupt by the end February.
If an agreement isn't reached between the provincial government and the Children's Aid Sociery of the County of Simcoe, the local child protection agency said it won't be able to pay its creditors as soon as the end of next month.
"This is a situation no one wants to see happen," said CAS executive director Mary Ballantyne, "but the agency was cut back 10.4 per cent and are facing a $4.9 million budget shortfall that has yet to be resolved. Negotiations with our funder continue with hopes that a resolution can be reached that will not affect our ability to provide quality service to children and families."
The Simcoe County CAS had 442 children in its care as of Dec. 31. In total during 2008/2009, the agency served 10,890 children.
For each child in CAS care, the Simcoe County branch gets $73 per day from the province, with the actual cost being $89 a day to care for the child, according to information provided by the agency.
In comparison, the childrens aid societies in the GTA get $103 per child for each day.
"We have always put children first and will do everything possible to not put any child at risk due to the financial situation. I know the government does not want that either. We hope to resolve the crisis through our continuing negotiations with government and are hopeful that we can do so," said Ballantyne.
The local child protection area was one of 36 of the child protection agencies in Ontario that filed for a review last year after it wasn't able to balance its mandate to protect children with the funding received from the province.
In November the local CAS received $1 million from the province, money the agency would have originally received this year, but was advanced the payment to help cover its $5-million deficit.
When the CAS had a deficit in the past, there was opportunity to negotiate with the Ontario government to mitigate the problem. Last year, the government said it wouldn't be supporting the societies with the year-end funding that had been available before.
To trim spending, the CAS was slow to replace staff that left, and trimmed it mileage, stationary and building repair costs.
