Tag: kids

The Ontario Child Advocate Was The One Safe Space For Vulnerable Kids. Then Doug Ford Cut The Office

allthecanadianpolitics:

As Ontario’s Child Advocate Irwin Elman tucked his pink slip into his pocket, and his office staff dumped desk drawers into boxes, I wonder if Doug Ford and his PC party patted themselves on the back for money saved. It appears Ontarians will be drinking their cheap beer at the expense of vulnerable children and youth.

Foster children, Indigenous children, disabled children, abused children — collectively a group most Canadians would wish to protect and champion — have been thrown under the bus in a reprehensible wielding of political power. Last Friday, the Conservatives repealed the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Act, 2007 as part of their fall economic statement, stripping these children of the one person guaranteed to be in their corner: The Ontario Child Advocate.

Not beholden to any agency or government, the child advocate (a position held by Irwin Elman since 2008) educates youth on their rights and pushes for action on their behalf. Because the office reports to the legislature, it remains independent. Most provinces have one, but now Canada’s most populated province has lost theirs. Although some people may not be familiar with the role of the child advocate, even those who have never had personal contact with the children who might need it would be left scratching their heads as to why kids in jeopardy have been targeted by the PC government.

With Children’s Aid Societies having limited oversight, the Advocate’s office was the one safe place where foster children could turn to report abuse within the system. For youth with mental health issues who have found themselves in the criminal justice system, the child advocate could push for a plan of care so they didn’t end up spiralling in the system. For blindsided parents who’d adopted children with severe special needs, the advocate helped their children receive critical services. The office called for mandatory inquests into the deaths of children in foster care and demanded rights for Indigenous youth. The advocate was the voice for the voiceless. Why did Doug Ford want that silenced?

Continue Reading.

The Ontario Child Advocate Was The One Safe Space For Vulnerable Kids. Then Doug Ford Cut The Office

careerofconsciousness:

Children who feel they cannot engage their parents emotionally often try to strengthen their connection by playing whatever roles they believe their parents want them to. Although this may win them some fleeting approval, it doesn’t yield genuine emotional closeness. Emotionally disconnected parents don’t suddenly develop a capacity for empathy just because a child does something to please them. 

People who lacked emotional engagement in childhood, men and women alike, often can’t believe that someone would want to have a relationship with them just because of who they are. They believe that if they want closeness, they must play a role that always puts the other person first.

— Lindsay C. Gibson, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents (2015)

Ontario PCs slash spending, unveil tax cut and lengthen LCBO hours in 1st economic plan | CBC News

onpoli:

The major items in the new plan are:

  • The cancellation of rent control for either newly-built units or for newly-leased units. We should have some more clarity on what this actually means pretty soon.
  • The cancellation of a tax hike (which would have generated $275 million
    for the province) for Ontarians with the highest earnings.
  • A provincial income tax credit for those earning around $30,000 a year.
  • Getting rid of Ontario’s environmental commissioner, French language services commissioner, and youth advocate.
  • In addition to the three university expansions that were already cancelled, another French-language university has now also been cancelled.
  • Extending the hours that LCBO stores can be open.
  • MPPs, political candidates, and their staff will be allowed to attend campaign fundraisers again.

Ontario PCs slash spending, unveil tax cut and lengthen LCBO hours in 1st economic plan | CBC News

‘We’re talking about our children’s lives here’: Ontario cuts child and youth advocate

allthecanadianpolitics:

The Ontario government has tabled fall economic legislation that will eliminate the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.

The Ontario Child Advocate serves as an independent watchdog to investigate ill-treatment of children in the child welfare system and to review government policy and practice around services to children. The position has been held by Irwin Elman since 2008.

The office’s mandate includes providing a voice for First Nations children and those with special needs.

In Ontario, Indigenous children account for 4.1 per cent of the population under 15 but make up 30 per cent of children in foster care.

“We are disheartened with the plans of the government to eliminate this position,” said Walter Naveau, Deputy Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), an organization representing 49 First Nations in Northern Ontario.

“We’re talking about our children’s lives here — our young people, children in care — and having a strong advocate voice to ensure our children are not in danger.

“There’s something very wrong here when the government starts taking away." 

Continue Reading.

‘We’re talking about our children’s lives here’: Ontario cuts child and youth advocate

Ontario Child Care, Dental Plan Could Be Axed In PC Economic Statement

allthecanadianpolitics:

Ford is… Such a piece of shit. A project that would save families $17,000 a year will in no way be made up for with tax cuts.

He’s driving Ontario into the ground; I didn’t love Wynne but the social programs she fought to implement would have lifted so many families from the paycheque-to-paycheque struggle to some kind of meaningful life.

What do we do? What CAN we do? I’m so afraid other provinces will follow us to hell.

–

Anonymous submission

Also, just to recap the article for those scrolling who don’t want to click:

Cuts that have already been made include prescription and dental coverage, three planned university campuses, increases to welfare and disability programs, funding for domestic violence victims, and mental health programs.

And Ontario already had the lowest program spending per capital to begin with.

This is going to hurt people. This is going to cause SO MUCH pain and misery and deaths– yes, deaths, because you can’t cut access to healthcare and the social safety net and deny DV victims the resources to leave without that resulting in people dying.

So, please, call your MPPs, especially if you have a Conservative rep. Signal boost this post, and others like it. Attend protests if you can. Vote every time you’re eligible to. Call your MPPs. Because this is terrifying and scary, but it’s not going to get better until we decide that our futures, and the lives of everyone we care about matter more than our fear.

Ontario Child Care, Dental Plan Could Be Axed In PC Economic Statement

missmaiceymay:

everyendeavor:

westafricanbaby:

diaryofakanemem:

This father consoling his baby son at the doctor’s office is SO CUTE 😍😍😍

Awwwww😂😂😂

This father is doing SO much more than consoling his infant son …

• this father is showing up as a pillar of safety; he’s told his son he acknowledges and believes in the boy’s strength.

• the father is completely present and accepting of his son’s story and helps him tell it. When the son recognizes that his father was fully present and heard the story of his experience of pain, the boy calms completely.

This piece of video will now be at the very top of my teaching tools when training parents and caretakers to work with shock and trauma in infants. It’s one of the finest examples of exemplary parenting I have ever seen in my 35-year healing career. ❤️

😍😍😍

thebaconsandwichofregret:

archdemonblood:

dewyntersisters:

dewyntersisters:

if a teenager is at your door and they are wearing a costume!! please give them candy!! they are still in it for the halloween spirit and it honestly no different from a little kid in a costume. they are just as excited and happy as all the other lil tykes and dont you dare tell them they are “too old for trick-or-treating” because that will literally break their hearts and that’s not cool.

Its getting close to Halloween again so I just thought I’d reblog this again

And if “don’t be rude to teenagers over a stupid jawbreaker” isn’t enough for you, consider 

  • You can’t tell how old a kid is just by looking. I’ve known multiple 5th graders who were taller than I am, and I’m 25 years old. With their faces hidden by masks, you won’t be able to tell they’re elementary schoolers, but they still are. 
  • Lots of older siblings are expected to take their younger siblings trick-or-treating, and they only get paid in candy. 
  • You don’t know if that teenager is developmentally disabled. 
  • You don’t know if that teenager spent most of their childhood in a hospital or sick and has never had the traditional trick-or-treat experience before.
  • You don’t know if this is that teenager’s first Halloween in America, and they just want to experience a piece of American culture.
  • You don’t know if that teenager ever gets candy any other day of the year. 
  • You don’t know if that teenager has eaten anything at all today. 

And those are just things I can think of off the top of my head. 

and even if it is just a bored 16/17 year old out trying to see what free shit they can get. is it really gonna kill you to give them a fun sized milky way from the multipack you bought at poundland? That thing didn’t even cost you 5p, just give the kid the sugar, say “nice costume”, and let it go.