B.C. announces increased rates for foster parents and kinship care providers
Foster families in British Columbia will get a monthly pay raise of hundreds of dollars starting April 1.
Mitzi Dean, the child and family development minister, said Wednesday that families fostering kids 11 and under will see their payments increase by $450 a month to $1,465 per child, while caregivers for those 12 to 19 will see a $531 monthly increase to $1,655 per child.
Dean said rates were frozen for nearly a decade under the previous government, and the latest increase is the second implemented since the New Democrats came to power in 2017.
The increased funding, Dean said, will fill a “critical need” for families hit hard by inflation who need to provide children with food, clothing and other essentials as living costs rise.
The province boosted funding for caregivers first in 2019 and injected a further $85 million to increase caregiver payments in the 2023 budget, affecting approximately 7,800 children and caregiver families.
Dean said funding is also increasing for other caregivers, including those with high- and special-needs children, along with so-called kinship families who take children under their care from family members.
Katie Robertson, executive director of the Parent Support Services Society of B.C., said she was raised in a kinship care situation herself and the increased funding will give kids security and stability, while helping keep families intact.
“As a young child, my mother struggled with a substance use disorder and we lived in deep poverty, and I experienced horrific neglect and violence and abuse,” Robertson said. “I left home when I was 13 and were it not for several families providing kinship care in my early teenage years, I would not be here today.” Robertson said kinship care is common, especially in Indigenous cultures, when parents can't care for their own children, who are then taken in by aunts, uncles, grandparents and others.
Relatives who find themselves caring for a family member's child are often caught off guard, representing “a major life change physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially for both the caregivers and children,” Robertson said.
“These increases will help many kinship care families to focus on what matters most, giving these children and youth the best opportunity to live a life filled with love, stability, community and connection,” she said. “When kinship care is an option, families stay intact, cultures are preserved and children are given a chance to thrive.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Explosion at train station leads to discovery of stolen car on Montreal's South Shore: police
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.