Funding cuts hurt wellness initiatives

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Sara Scout of the Blood Nation said that having one foster mother out of 14 foster placements who "gave a damn" made a difference in her life - she's now pursuing a career in print journalism at Lethbridge Community College. But she's scared about the future of her nieces and nephews who are presently in foster care.

Scout attended a forum to address funding cuts being made by Sun Country Child and Family Services, held in Lethbridge on Nov. 30.

"Something happened without people knowing what was happening. This forum raised awareness," said Camelia Dumont, co-ordinator of the Eagle Connections Program, a transportation and supervision program operated by the Native Women's Transition Society in Lethbridge.

All government departments have been hit with a one per cent budget cut; in the case of Sun Country Child and Family Services that amounts to $250,000. That amount is on top of the $1.7 million it had to slash from its budget last year, mostly through cancellation of fee-for-service contracts, as its share of a $40 million deficit incurred by the Department of Child and Family Services. That deficit was equally split among the 18 Child and Family regions in the province.

Dumont was one of 11 panel members who outlined how these cuts are affecting their agencies.

Others participating in the panel were Catherine Hedland, of the Alberta Association of Services to Children and Families; Heather Thibault-Gerlovitch, a foster parent; Louise, a former client of Sun Country; Dr. Linda Storoz, a Lethbridge pediatrician; Donna Casey Tait, a child psychologist; Dr. Paul Hasselback, medical director of the Chinook Health Region; Carmen Mombourquette, principal of Catholic Central High School in Lethbridge; Bill Anderson from Lethbridge Community College (providing a policing perspective); Patricia McMillan, a family law lawyer, and Linda Fehr, a professor of social work at the universities of Lethbridge and Calgary.

Rounding out the panel were Bob Bartlett, co-chair of Sun Country Child and Family Services and the two Lethbridge MLAs, Liberal leader Ken Nicol and Clint Dunford, human resources minister in the Progressive Conservative government.

Dunford admitted he was "at the table when the decision was made to cut back the budget one per cent and every department would have to do this. He said "I'll certainly be responsible for what happens in this region."

Dunford said that he would not support deficit spending.

Nicol said Child and Family Services Minister Iris Evans "passed off to Health or Human Resources a lot of responsibility for children's services." He added, "If the support is not coming from Children's Services, where will it come from?"

Eagle Connections is one of many programs contracted by Sun Country in the southwestern part of the province, stretching from the Crowsnest Pass to Lethbridge, whose contract is not being renewed.

Eagle Connections provides transportation for children to visit their biological parents or grandparents, and it supervises the visits. What the cuts mean to the First Nations people served by Eagle Connections is unclear.

"We know what the people need and we make things a little easier," said Dumont. "These cuts can have some quite powerful effects on foster families, biological families and children."

Dumont is concerned that social workers will be asked to do too much - more than their education and cultural background will permit. And it's even sadder for this region, she said.

"Southern Alberta is really the only one to consider the Aboriginal community pillar. Initially it was strong, but then it started weakening. We need to revitalize that relationship."

The Aboriginal community pillar is one of the four "pillars" or targeted-for-service areas managed by Child and Family Services.

Dumont added, "The critical thing to remember is that the children fall through the cracks."

Cuts by Sun Country are being felt in other programs as well.

On the Peigan Nation, the agle Mountain Youth Drop-In Centre, which provides both short-term and long-term programming for youth on a daily basis, will see its contract expire in March. The drop-in centre, which has been operational since 1996, provides recreation, homework help and crisis intervention services for the reserve's youth. It's also a safe place for parents, who are attending counselling appointments elsewhere, to leave their children.

"My supervisor is looking for different avenues of funding," said program co-ordinator Anita Crow Shoe. "If there's no funding, the youth will just have to find other means or sources or avenues for a place to hang out."

In Pincher Creek, the organization Group Group Youth faces a similar predicament.

All its Sun Country funding, which accounts for two-thirds of its budget, has been sliced. The drop-in centre offers programming for Pincher Creek children, both Native and non-Native, who are at risk.

"We might be able to get bits and pieces of funding," said Lynne Teneycke, co-ordinator for Group Group Youth, "but it will be hard to secure ongoing funding like what we had with Sun Country."

Programs such as Eagle Mountain Youth and Group Group Youth are finding themselves doubly targeted by Sun Country Child and Family Services, which is not only doing away with its contracted services but is also moving its focus to early intervention programming for children up to six years of age.

"While I know those children and their families need help," said Teneycke, "we know there are older kids who need help, too."

Bob Bartlett said, "We have said our main concern has to be programs aimed at the zero to eight age group."

Where the slack will be picked up, both in funding and programming, is not clear. But it's a problem that continues to plague service providers that now find themselves without their major funder.