In response to the story published by the Toronto Star, the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies released the following statement:
“The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies recently made some necessary but difficult choices, including a decision to reduce the size of our senior team. This decision was made following a determination that we had more people in senior-level positions than is appropriate for an organization of our size.
Ontario’s child welfare sector is facing challenging fiscal circumstances. We must all do our part to protect the financial sustainability of child welfare services by focusing our resources on the services and programs that provide the most benefit to our members and the children, youth, and families of Ontario.
In response to feedback from our partners and those we serve, our new strategic plan sets a bold agenda to re-imagine child welfare. With the reality of reduced budgets and the call to operate more efficiently and effectively, we committed to changing how we work.
The decision to reduce the size of our leadership team was made to respond to our financial realities and to ensure our resources are dedicated to delivering high-quality member services and programs in a period of constraint. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false.
As difficult as these decisions were, they were absolutely necessary to allow OACAS to deliver on its mandate.
On behalf of the Board, I want to affirm our continued support for the leadership of Nicole Bonnie as CEO of our organization. She is leading a bold and ambitious effort to re-imagine child welfare in our province and is having to make tough choices in the process. I have every confidence that she will continue to lead our organization with a strong commitment to transparency, fairness and the fostering of a positive work environment for all our employees.”
Lisa Sarsfield
Chair of the Board of Directors
Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies
