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NDP alleges province unfairly administered child-care subsidies [CA-AB]

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Author: 
CTV
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Article
Publication Date: 
21 May 2009
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NDP MLA Rachel Notley is accusing the province of directing managers in charge of the Child Care Subsidy Program to refrain from telling parents about child care dollars to which they're entitled to.

Notley alleges leaked documents from government staff show the people accountable for lining up subsidies for families are being told not to let potential recipients know about a change of rules last year that could allow more people to get more money on a month-to-month basis.

Old forms for the subsidy required child support to be declared, while the new applications do not. It appears the administrators were told not to clarify the difference between old and new applications unless asked by would-be recipients.

"The child-care subsidy is not being administered in a way that's fair to recipients, and it's not being administered in a way that's consistent," said Notley.

She added, "There seems to be a great deal of confusion."

Government management directed staff to keep on processing old applications which resulted in less funding.

"Staff were also prohibited from contacting families who were unfairly denied subsidy or whose subsidy was inappropriately low." Notley also said it's estimated at least 500 single-parent families are receiving less funds than they should.

In response to NDP's accusations, Children and Youth Services Minister Janis Tarchuk has now asked ministry staff to review the process used to assess child care subsidy applications.

Tarchuk said she has directed staff to notify families if it is found that any application was not assessed properly.

- reprinted from CTV

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