Last week the Minister of Community and Social Services wrote a letter to the editor about the Ontario Government’s Temporary Care Assistance (TCA) program. This program, for many years, provided a meagre $231 per child per month financial support for grandchildren being raised by their grandparents. For each additional child in the care of the grandparent, they received $188 per month.

In June, at the request of the Hamilton group, ROCK (Raising Our Children’s Kids), I arranged a meeting with the minister so that these grandparents could ask her to fix an imbalance in application of the rules for Temporary Care Assistance. Grandchildren in Hamilton and Ottawa were considered not eligible for TCA because they were in the care of their grandparents for several years. However, throughout the rest of the province the duration for which the grandchildren were with the grandparents was not considered a determinant for eligibility. The grandparents wanted the rules applied the same way across the province, so that those in Hamilton and Ottawa would again be eligible for TCA.

The outcome of this meeting was that the ministry issued a new Directive, dated July 8, but of which we were made aware only in October at a meeting with the Hamilton staff of the Ontario Works office. This new directive ensured that the definition of “temporary” was changed to mean “short term”, effectively ensuring that grandchildren across Ontario would no longer qualify for TCA. As well they inserted new instructions disqualifying applicants if they show permanence by accommodating space in the home, the existence of a custody order or becoming involved with the children’s medical, educational and recreational activities.

After weeks of saying in the Legislature that there had been no change to the rules, the minister finally admitted there had been a change in the “definition” of the word “temporary.” A rule change by any interpretation.

The minister has tried to shift the blame for this fiasco, accusing me, and by extension the grandparents, of asking for ‘income testing’. She also tries to deflect her actions by mentioning longer term support, such as the Ontario Child Benefit, which will give grandparents $50 per month this year. The only other Ontario program for which they could apply is welfare (Ontario Works), however, they do not qualify. Many receive pension income and have modest homes, on which they now have mortgages because they receive such meagre government support.

If these same children were being cared for in a foster home, with unrelated caregivers, the foster parent would receive $900 per month per child. Perhaps the minister should put her efforts into fixing this imbalance instead of taking money out of the hands of at risk children.

Paul Miller, MPP Hamilton East -Stoney Creek