: If the Premier had checked his inbox over the past couple of weeks, he'd have found many messages calling for new funding for child welfare programs to help relieve an overworked and overstressed foundation of social workers. It appears these calls have gone unanswered in the budget tabled yesterday.
The Child Welfare on the Brink campaign, initiated by the NSGEU and the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers, invites us to consider what happens when child welfare services are underfunded and neglected. It is troubling because the children of Nova Scotia are the ones who suffer.
Even as social workers go above and beyond to try to keep a broken system together, much of their time is spent on administrative work instead of building the relationships required to keep children and their families safe. The result, the most vulnerable and marginalized children of our province are at risk.
The children are the victims of the government's choices to improperly resource the work of their social workers. Child welfare is on the brink and social workers are crying for help. It appears that this government is not listening.