Crisis worker with London Children’s Aid urges province to step in as agency places kids in hotels - CBC News [2023-11-15]

A crisis intervention specialist with the London, Ont. branch of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) says there are currently no beds available for some of the city’s most vulnerable youth.

Pre-existing gaps in services have only grown wider in the city and across the province, according to Gerry Healy. There are no spaces to place high needs children who require special treatment and aren’t able to return home for a variety of reasons.

The agency, tasked with keeping children safe, has had to resort to placing some of those children in homes as far away as Ottawa, or in local hotels or motels.

“When you’re putting a teenager or a child as young as 11 in hotel rooms and calling that home, I’d say [the situation] is significantly dire,” said Healy.