The budget for the Ministry of Children and Family Development is higher today than it was in 2001. Budget 2009 provides $1.4 billion in 09/10, an increase of $400 million (or 40 per cent) over 2001.
We’ve funded an additional 300 front line staff to support at-risk children and their families.
There are currently 8,960 children in the care of the ministry – the lowest level in more than a decade.
We’ve tripled the budget since 2001 for children and youth with special needs to $155 million in 2008/09.
We increased the budget for Autism treatment to $40 million – more than 12 times the budget in 2000 of $3.4 million.
We spend $300 million a year on child care, up from $212 million in 2000/01, an increase of 42 per cent.
Aboriginal Child Services
We are working with First Nations to return historic responsibilities for child protection and family support back to their communities because they are in a better position to ensure that services reflect Aboriginal culture.
For every 1,000 Aboriginal children in B.C., 64 are in the care of the province – the same rate recorded in 2001.
We’ve more than tripled funding to delegated Aboriginal agencies to $65 million since 2003.
Since 2004, more than 1,500 Aboriginal children in care have been connected to their culture and community through the “Roots are Forever” program.
We were the first province in Canada to adopt Jordan’s Principle which commits the B.C. Government to protect Aboriginal children regardless of who, or which, level of government is technically responsible (2008).
Today total funding for Aboriginal children services is $356 million, up $59 million from 2003/04, and will grow to $380 million by 2009/10.
We increased the number of Aboriginal Infant Development Programs (AIDP) from 25 to 32 reaching well over 1,000 Aboriginal children and families.
We appointed the Provincial Advisor for Aboriginal Infant Development Programs (AIDPs) in provincial history in 2002. The Advisor contributes to the overall coordination, training, resources and support for infant development programs and services to Aboriginal children and families in B.C.
AIDPs provide support to families of infants and young children who are at risk for, or have been diagnosed with, a developmental delay. They also assist families in accessing other health, social, and community services.
We introduced Aboriginal Supported Child Development (ASCD) Programs in 2006, and there are currently 20 ASCD programs providing community-based, culturally relevant services to enable the inclusion of children who require extra support in childcare settings.
ASCD programs promote children's development along with their peers and allows parents/caregivers to participate in the workforce and pursue their education.
Child Care
We are providing child care subsidies for low-income families and investing in new child care spaces so that all parents have more options for affordable, quality child care.
We spend $300 million a year on child care, up from $212 million in 2000/01, an increase of 42 per cent.
This is in addition to exploring the feasibility and costs of providing full day kindergarten for five-year-olds and four-year-olds by 2010, and 3-year olds by 2012.
Budget 2009 increases the child care subsidy budget by $25 million over three years helping more lower and middle-income families.
Spaces & Capital
We’ve increased the number of new and existing licensed child care spaces supported by our child care operating funding from 45,000 in 2001 to over 90,000 today.
We’ve created 6,500 new spaces – more than 3,000 in the last two years alone - and we support over 4,700 licensed facilities.
We’ve invested over $35 million since 2001 in capital funding, with nearly $7 million invested in First Nations communities.
In Budget 2007, we provided $12.5 million for capital funding that has resulted or will result in:
Over 2,200 new licensed spaces by 2010 (surpassing the 2000 space goal).
Over 100 projects in 58 communities.
68 group child care centres & 43 family child care centres, of which 10 will create or expand neighbourhood hubs, bringing the total number of hubs to 32.
We partnered with BC Housing to create more than 200 child care spaces in existing or planned social housing developments, eliminating some of the barriers to child care, employment and schooling for vulnerable families.
Operating Costs
Our child care operating budget is $64 million for 2008/09, funding more than 90,000 licensed spaces – 6,000 more than in 2001.
We’ve invested $40 million since 2007 in quality enhancement grants for all licensed child care providers who receive operating subsidies.
We’re making an annual investment of $57 million in Supported Child Development, which provides consultation and support for 9000 children with special needs and their families to allow their inclusion in child care settings – an increase of 35 per cent since 2005/06.
Subsidy
We provide $150 million provincial dollars annually in child care subsidies that benefit almost 50,000 children and 37,000 families.
We increased the income threshold for applying for subsidy from $21,000 to $38,000 for families with children under the age of six.
We increased the out of school care subsidy for children aged 6-12, benefiting over 13,000 children and 10,000 families.
We increased subsidy rates for kindergarten children in 2005, and then kept those rates in place despite the cancellation of the federal Early Learning & Child Care Program in 2006.
Recruitment and retention of Early Childhood Educators (ECEs)
We launched a loan assistance program providing up to $2,500 toward new graduates outstanding B.C. student loans.
We also launched an incentive grant program providing up to $5000 for ECEs to return to the sector.
Child Poverty
We are supporting low-income parents through tax cuts and assistance programs so that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Child poverty is actually decreasing in B.C., decreasing 15 per cent between 2003 and 2006 (to 16.1 per cent). Today the rate is lower than it was for a number of years in the late 1990s.
The number of children living in families receiving income assistance has declined by more than 50,000 under our government to 31,320, a 60.7 per cent reduction over June 2001.
We have the lowest provincial incomes taxes in Canada for those earning up to $116,000 – benefiting all lower and middle income wage earners.
We eliminated provincial income taxes for most people earning under $16,000 – 250,000 people in total.
MSP premiums have been reduced for 215,000 families, while Fair Pharmacare resulted in 300,000 people paying less in drug costs.
We raised the threshold to qualify for Medical Services Plan Premium Assistance by $4,000, so that a family of four with an income less than $29,000 pays no MSP whatsoever.
We doubled the School Start-up Supplement in 2006 to help families on income assistance with the costs of purchasing school supplies.
In 2007 we increased income assistance rates across the board – creating some of the highest welfare rates in Canada.
We will spend $469 million in 2009/10 on housing and shelter for families – four times the spending in 2000 of $112 million.
We introduced the Rental Assistance Program (RAP) in 2006, providing low-income, working families with children whose combined income is less than $35,000 assistance with rent payments.
Under RAP we’re helping more than 7,700 households with maximum monthly assistance of up to $765 for a family of four ($9,180 a year).
We’re invest $19 million annually in the Healthy Kids Program providing low-income families with basic dental care and prescription eyeglass coverage.
We’ve provided enhancements to programs such as the childcare subsidy, where a single parent of two kids under age 6 earning up to $38,000 a year will see their annual subsidy double to over $14,200 a year (a nearly $7,000 a year increase).
Child Protection
We are protecting kids from potential abuse by providing frontline social workers with the resources to support children and their families in developing safe and supportive homes.
The budget for Children & Family Development is 40 per cent higher today than it was in 2001. Budget 2009 provides $1.4 billion in 09/10, an increase of $400 million over 2001.
There are currently 8,960 children in the care of the ministry – the lowest level in more than a decade.
We’ve hired 300 additional front line workers to enhance services for children at risk, and reduce case-load for social workers, even though there are now fewer children in care.
We introduced Family Group Conferencing, an internationally recognized best-practice that promotes child-centred, family and community-based mediation; this helps us move away from foster care and helps families better meet the needs of their own children.
We’ve worked hard to increase the number of adoptions of B.C. children ; we nearly doubled the number of adoptions in 2007/08 compared to 2000/01 (320 vs. 165), and over the past five years we’ve averaged 300 adoptions annually.
To support adoptions we’ve increased funding to seven times what it was in 2000/01, from $3.3 million to $24 million in 2008/09.
We’ve ensured our 3,200 foster families saw an increase in their support payments - $31 million in 2008/09 was provided to increase payments to most foster families by $200 per month per each child in their care, incrementally over three years.
We’ve also provided a 50 per cent mileage rate increase for foster parents .
We launched a $5-million agreement with the Young Adults program in 2008 to pay for education and training programs for former children in care (ages 19-24) to help them make the transition to a successful adult life.
Today’s staff complement for the North region is 98 per cent, up significantly over an average of 59 per cent from the 1990s.
Children & Youth with Special Needs
We are providing focused funding and programs for children with special needs and their families because we are committed to building the best system of support in the country.
We’ve tripled funding for children and youth with special needs from $53 million in 2001 to $155 million in 2008/09.
We’ve doubled the number of children and youth with special needs receiving services since 2001.
As a result of these investments, there is no waitlist for autism funding, nursing support services or the at-home medical benefits program.
We’ve increased funding for the Supported Child Development program by 44 per cent, enabling more than 5,800 special needs children to participate in a child care setting.
We’re spending more on autism services than any government in B.C.'s history. Our 2008/09 budget for direct funding of children with autism is $40 million, 12 times the NDP's budget in 2000/01.
Direct funding for early autism intervention is serving over 5,000 children, up from only a few hundred prior to our taking office.
Five years ago, kids waited 1.5 years for autism diagnoses ; today the wait has been cut by more than 50 per cent to between 6-7 months and intervention funding follows immediately.
In addition, we’re spending over $70 million in 2008/09 on children with autism through the Ministry of Education’s special education program, and serving over 4,500 children at $16,000 per child.
We were the first province in Canada to create a comprehensive provincial strategy on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FASD) in September 2003.
Children's Health
We are supporting programs and policies that enhance children’s health because a healthy start to life is critical to lifelong health and the wellbeing of our population.
We created the innovative ActNow BC program to foster physical activity among children and youth.
We’ve committed to renovate and expand B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver for all B.C. children and youth.
We opened a new mental health building in 2007 at B.C. Children’s Hospital, bringing together all services for children and youth with mental health conditions under one roof.
We’ve increased perinatal services at Richmond Hospital to 17 maternity beds from 15, and doubled the number of neonatal ICU beds from three to six.
We also opened a new perinatal unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, increasing the number of neonatal ICU beds from five to nine.
We opened a new $5-million paediatric unit at Prince George Regional Hospital as part of the $12.5-million Maternal-Child Centre of Excellence.
We’re increasing the number of disorders that are screened for at birth from six to 19. This means earlier detection of treatable disorders such as Cystic Fibrosis and sickle cell disease.
Under our government, by the time a child reaches Kindergarten they will have received free vision and hearing screening, as well as dental health education or screening, to provide early indications of concern that can be addressed before becoming significant health issues.
We implemented Canada’s first ever Child and Youth Mental Health Plan; today funding is 120 per cent higher than it was in 2000/01.
20,000 children & youth with mental health challenges receive outpatient community mental health services annually, double the number four years ago.
After 17 years with no increases, we added more than 50 per cent ($1.5 million) to the budget of the Sexual Abuse Intervention Program to improve the quality and consistency of services for children who’ve suffered sexual abuse.
Launched Child Health BC , B.C.’s first collaborative network dedicated to excellence in the care of specialized paediatric services.
Child Health BC includes all of the health authorities and the Ministries of Healthy Living, Health Services, Education and Children & Family Development.
We’ve invested $35 million in healthy schools initiatives since September 2001 and our ActionSchools!BC model is accepted internationally as a best practice in school-based health promotion. 100 per cent of B.C. school districts are participating.
We created the School Fruit & Vegetable Nutrition Program in 2005. The program provides B.C. grown produce to students in 739 schools, along with educational information for their families.
We banned the sale of junk food in all B.C. schools effective September 2008. We are working towards having the highest school health standards in Canada.
We’ve mandated 30 minutes of daily physical activity for all K-9 students and gave $1.3 million to districts for new PE equipment to help students achieve optimal health benefits from exercise.
We’ve invested $100,000 in “Kick the Nic”, a program designed in consultation with teens to help youth stop smoking.
We implemented a $3-million crystal meth education program aimed at students, parents and teachers.
We developed and implemented the Anaphylaxis Child Health and Safety Framework, a rigorous set of provincial standards that require all school districts to develop school-based anaphylaxis policies to protect anaphylactic students.
We established the BC Healthy Schools Network to help address education and health-related issues in a more integrated way and foster healthy school communities.
Representative for Children & Youth
We created the Representative for Children and Youth, an independent officer of the Legislature, and work collaboratively with the Representative on issues affecting children and youth in B.C.
Minister of Children and Family Development Tom Christensen talks about the role of the Representative for Children and Youth. (Vid, MTC)
In November 2005, we asked Mr. Hughes to undertake a review of the child protection system in BC and offer recommendations for improvement; one of his recommendations was to create the Representative for Children & Youth, which we immediately did by enacting legislation to set up such an office that spring.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was appointed B.C.’s first Representative for Children & Youth in November 2006 by the Legislative Assembly of B.C.
The Representative for Children and Youth is an independent Officer of the Legislature.
The mandate of the Representative for Children and Youth is to improve services and outcomes for children in B.C. through advocacy, accountability and review.
Responsibilities of the Representative include advocating for children and youth, protecting their rights, and improving the system for the protection and support of children and youth, particularly those who are most vulnerable.
We also established an all-party Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth to work with the Representative in fostering greater awareness and understanding of the child welfare system, as recommended by Mr. Hughes’ report.
