help
collapse
Press one of the expand buttons to see the full text of an article. Later press collapse to revert to the original form. The buttons below expand or collapse all articles.
expand
collapse
Beamsville Tour Stop
August 5, 2011 permalink
The Protecting Canadian Children tour stopped at the constituency office of Ontario's premier-in-waiting Tim Hudak in Beamsville. Here is a picture of the Beamsville signs and video YouTube and local copy (flv). The video includes the mother and grandmother of Delonna Victoria Sullivan, the Warburg Alberta girl who died six days after being taken into foster care in March. A press report on the Beamsville event is below.
expand
collapse
Protest targets children's aid societies
A small group gathered in downtown Beamsville Thursday to demand Ombudsman Ontario have oversight over children's aid societies.
The ombudsman is an independent officer of the Legislature who investigates complaints from the public about Ontario government services.
The gathering of about a dozen people took place outside a plaza housing the constituency office of Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.
It brought together groups critical of Family and Children's Services Niagara and provincial child protection services.
Among several concerns, they allege children have not received proper care while under the legal supervision of various aid societies.
Co-organizer Linda Plourde of the group Protecting Canadian Children said her group concentrates on protecting children in general, with a focus on the practices of children's aid.
"The system is broken and needs to be fixed," said Plourde, a Stoney Creek resident.
She and several group members stressed the agencies need to be more accountable.
In an e-mailed response, FACS executive director Chris Steven said protecting children is important and requires high standards of accountability for processes and services.
Steven said there are "many accountability mechanisms including annual service and licensing audits completed by the provincial Ministry of Children and Youth Services."
He said all children's aid societies have a formal complaints procedure that includes independent access to the Child and Family Services Review Board of Ontario.
The provincial ombudsman does not have oversight of children's aid societies, but does have oversight of the Child and Family Services Review Board.
Organizers said the protest was held by Hudak's office because they believe he stands the best chance of being Ontario's next premier after the October provincial election.
Source: St Catharines Standard
