A New Brunswick watchdog will require quarterly reporting on the province’s child welfare spending commitments.
Advocate Kelly Lamrock released a report last week showing the government has mandated $47 million in cuts this year.
The provincial government has budgeted $208.3 million in this year’s budget for child welfare services.
While that is higher than last year’s estimates of $181.9 million, it is lower than the $231.8 million that was actually spent.
As a result, the advocate said the government is assuming that child welfare will cost around $23.5 million less this year, with no apparent evidence of a decreased need for services.
And with the province redirecting $23.6 million to new priority services and wage increases under the Child and Youth Well-Being Act, Lamrock said the department must find $47.1 million in cuts from existing programs.
“Following the release of our report, our office heard from a number of front-line staff, service providers and community organizations who expressed their concern over the deep cuts to programs for vulnerable children contained in the budget,” Lamrock said in a statement on Wednesday.
“There appears to be considerable consensus from the community that government has not yet shared with them the plan to ensure that these cuts do not hurt outcomes for children.”
RELATED: Advocate concerned about child welfare cuts
Lamrock also took note of the government’s prompt response ot his report and the specific commitments made by the premier and the social development minister.
The minister has reiterated that $17.2 million to expand integrated services and for early intervention services is new money on top of what was spent last year.
In addition, the premier has said that a plan will be provided which will answer the questions of how the government will manage a historic cut and preserve and expand services for children, said Lamrock.
“These early indications that prevention and upstream services will not be clawed back, and that a
plan is forthcoming, are encouraging,” added the advocate.
Lamrock said he also supports the premier’s comment that the government will be monitoring “metrics other than money.”
But despite assurance from the government, the advocate is using his powers under provincial legislation to require quarterly reporting.
“Part of my skepticism that transformative change can be realized quickly enough to make these cuts work, without hurting kids, is because the department has not done a good job establishing metrics other than money,” said Lamrock.
“My role will not be to continue the argument over whether what they have promised is mathematically possible; they say it is. My job will be to measure the facts and report quickly to the legislative assembly if the words have proven true or not.”
