The Huron-Perth Children’s Aid Society is closing its doors as of December 15th.
The CAS serves almost 450 families and more than 200 Crown wards across the two counties.
In a teleconference Thursday — President of the Huron-Perth CAS Board of Directors Vince Judge blamed the province for the financial position the agency is in.
Judge says the Ministry of Children and Youth services uses a flawed funding formula that has left the society with a projected operating deficit of 1.3-million dollars.
The agency is also carrying a debt of about 875 thousand dollars.
CAS Executive-Director Tom Knight says Children’s Aid Society funding is under legal review.
Knight says the review looks only at the process Queen’s Park uses to fund Children’s Aid Societies and not the actual level of money transferred to the agencies.
Huron-Perth is among 11 CAS’s across the province involved in the action.
Knight expects the review will go before Divisional Court in London in November and that the court panel will respond about six months after that.
Knight says no other agency can take over CAS responsibility and that the province cannot step in directly either.
He tells us the Ministry of Children and Youth Services would only be working with existing Huron-Perth CAS staff which the agency can no longer afford to pay.
Children and Youth Services Minister Laurel Broten plans to meet with CAS officials on Friday to discuss the situation.
