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Insider Adoption

May 13, 2009 permalink

An article on Northumberland CAS says that its new executive director Rosaleen Cutler has four adopted children (amended to only two). Insiders grab the best for themselves.

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Funding could result in slight surplus, new CAS director says

Posted May 12, 2009

- The new executive director of the Children's Aid Society (CAS) of Northumberland expects the budget year will either feature a break-even budget or have a slight surplus, due to the government funding received this spring.

Additional funds to meet expenditures were announced for CAS operations across Ontario but the Northumberland society still has an historical debt of $600,000 from 2005/6 and 2006/7, Rosaleen Cutler said during an interview last week.

The provincial government funded the local CAS with $10.7 million to the end of March 2009 and the local society's board is awaiting the government's strategy to address the long-term debt -- as well as funding for the 2009/2010 year, she said.

"No Children's Aid knows that yet."

Cutler joined Northumberland's CAS in January after spending 18 years (at various times during her career) with the Frontenac/Kingston CAS. She was director of organizational planning when she left that society to join Northumberland, she said. In total she has spent 30 years in the field.

Married with four adopted children, the two youngest are a year old, the family is still making the transition to this area, she said.

Former CAS executive director Greg Dulmage retired last year after many decades with the Northumberland CAS. His second in command, Linda Goldie, took retirement earlier that same year.

"I knew and worked with Greg and Linda over the years," Cutler said.

As a result of that association, she said, she knew the local agency was a "fine" one with a "community focus."

This is "in keeping with my values," she added.

Still, Cutler said she has been spending her first months listening, learning the "culture" of the CAS and what is important in both the organization and the community. While the volume of cases is less than that in Kingston and therefore has fewer community supports for facilities, "this community has a collaborative approach" that brings partners to the table, she said.

These include programs such as WrapAround Northumberland, which received a $105,300 Trillium Foundation grant last week. (See related story, above.)

Referrals continue to come to the CAS from social agencies, law enforcement, schools and the health care sector, Cutler said. About 80% of families work with the CAS in Northumberland on a "volunteer basis" as opposed to court-ordered, she noted.

"My approach is to work with the strengths of the children and their families."

Most of the time people want to make the lives of their families better, but if that can't be, the CAS looks for the best placement possible where children will grow and prosper. The first option is to look at kin or neighbours and because need outstrips resources, the CAS is always looking for foster families. During a recent blitz, 14 new foster homes were established and there are about 57 open foster homes at this time, she said.

About 100 children are in care every month, and up to 157 different children over the course of a year, Cutler said. More than half of these are wards of the Crown where the CAS is involved in care to age 18, or to 21 if the ward is still in school.

Among the objectives is to help these young people become independent. At any one time about 180 families are receiving services, some for months and others ongoing for years.

There are about 70 investigations every month into situations where children may be at risk, she added.

Source: Northumberland Today


Posted May 12, 2009

CORRECTION

The new executive director of the Children's Aid of Northumberland, Rosaleen Cutler, has two 15-year-old adopted sons. Their age was incorrectly reported in yesterday's newspaper article.

Source: Northumberland Today

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