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Today I met with Minister Dunlop. I decided to heed the advice of youth in care years ago “ we don’t want adults fight over us, we want them sitting at the kitchen table with us talking about how to do better” I met in that spirit. I told the Minister
That the conversations she is having about reforming how we protect children and support families is the most important thing she will ever do
That she is responsible for thousands of children in care and for the safety and well being of thousands of other children connected to a child welfare agency
That she should read each and every report of a death of a child connected to child welfare she receives on her desk on average every three days to remind herself that her conversations are not about systems but about children
That her consultations should take the form of or at least lead to a broad restorative inquiry with young people and parents leading that would create fundamental change in real time
That children in care deserve nothing less than a whole of government effort to provide whatever they need when they need it in order to reach their full potential
That surviving residential care is a ridiculously low bar and that she must work to legislate and create the conditions in which love can flourish in the homes she provides for children
That families need support and our government must offer them that if children are to remain at home and in their communities
That Ontario’s Indigenous and Black communities must be supported to develop alternative child welfare initiatives because their different world views might lead to something different and real change for their children and in turn all children
That children, youth and those with lived experience are ready to lead
That this work, the most important that she will ever do, is not about money but about the well being of Ontario’s children and families. That if she is brave enough my exp is that people will come around children with her and figure out how to create a new Ontario for children
I’m not stopping here news.ontario.ca/mcys/en/2019/0…
