{"id":1721,"date":"2024-11-19T19:24:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T00:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/19\/this-national-childrens-day-what-can-only-be-called-a-stark-tragedy-unfolding-in-ontario\/"},"modified":"2024-11-19T19:24:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T00:24:17","slug":"this-national-childrens-day-what-can-only-be-called-a-stark-tragedy-unfolding-in-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/19\/this-national-childrens-day-what-can-only-be-called-a-stark-tragedy-unfolding-in-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"This National Children\u2019s Day What Can Only Be Called A Stark Tragedy Unfolding In Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This National Children\u2019s Day we must acknowledge what our children are facing in Ontario. 


We are in free fall placing our most vulnerable children and families in crisis. 


Sector after sector here is a sample snapshot;

– 50,000 plus autistic children languishing on wait lists for service 
https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/toronto\/ontario-autism-program-waitlist-services-1.7319778<\/a>




– children waiting 1-3 years for mental health service 
https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/interactives\/wait-lists-and-120-trips-to-the-er-what-its-like-to-be-a-child\/article_2a4cb9d2-693f-11ee-86b6-b3720d2bbc19.html<\/a>




– 60% of Elementary School Principals in the Province report sending a child home or preventing them from attending school because they had no special education supports for the child in their school. 
https:\/\/peopleforeducation.ca\/report\/access-to-special-education-in-ontario-schools\/<\/a>




– youth justice facilities in the Province closing due to a lack of staff 
https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/london\/workers-worry-parents-sound-alarm-as-craigwood-youth-services-in-ailsa-craig-ships-out-kids-1.7382463<\/a>




– parents traumatized and exhausted surrendering in heartbreak their complex care children to child protection because there are no supports available for their families 
https:\/\/www.thetrillium.ca\/news\/social-services-and-society\/ottawa-cas-warns-child-welfare-at-tipping-point-over-shortfall-in-supports-for-youth-with-complex-needs-9026931<\/a>




– a record 1 million families using food banks in Ontario
https:\/\/www.dailybread.ca\/blog\/over-1-million-people-in-ontario-visited-a-food-bank-in-the-last-year\/<\/a> 
– wait times for children requiring surgery continue to exist as do bottlenecks in ERs 
https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/toronto\/ontario-emergency-room-wait-times-1.7075415<\/a>




– a record number of femicides in Ontario with 1 in 7 deaths being young girls 
https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/toronto\/ontario-femicide-young-victims-1.7302542<\/a>




– Ontario has highest increase in child poverty in last 12 months of any Province or Territory in the country. 


– 99% of young people living away from home due to family strife including those leaving care live in poverty. 
https:\/\/campaign2000.ca\/ending-child-poverty-the-time-is-now\/<\/a>




– A record 136 deaths of children connected to the child protection system in 2022-23. 
https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/10735101\/ontario-child-care-system-deaths\/<\/a>




– children as young as 3 years old being housed by the child protection system for months in \u201cunlicensed placements\u201d  
ie trailers in parking lots, office space , hotels , air bnbs\u2026
https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/ontario\/sharp-increase-in-ontario-kids-in-child-protection-being-housed-in-hotels-offices-and-airbnbs\/article_95a912ea-7a7b-11ef-b324-ebb71dbfa7e4.html<\/a>




– closure of services due to cuts in funding 
https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/london\/workers-worry-parents-sound-alarm-as-craigwood-youth-services-in-ailsa-craig-ships-out-kids-1.7382463<\/a>




– Child protection agencies across the Province carrying a combined deficit of $115 million 
https:\/\/peterboroughcurrents.ca\/news\/province-installs-supervisor-at-khcas\/<\/a>




It is also important to acknowledge the moral distress faced by so many on the front line trying to support those in harms way. 


National Children\u2019s Day is the day we are to celebrate the creation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Today in Ontario so many , so many, children are struggling for the rights that come so easily to others. 


We are in an unprecedented moment. I have journeyed with children of the Province for over 40 years. I have never witnessed anything like what we are facing.  


It is a stark, clear tragedy that can not continue.  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theelman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}