Foster care agencies in Edmonton have been aware of a cap on foster care payments for well over a month. CTV News has learned agencies were already reviewing cases to see which foster families would have payments reduced.
A quick decision was made by the Minister of Children and Youth Services Yvonne Fritz to overturn the cap on payments. The minister said she wasn't aware that department staff had plans to impose a cap in the Edmonton area as part of a pilot project.
Following the overturn, the CEO of child and family services in the Edmonton region, Rick Semel resigned.
Details about the cap were released after the opposition spoke to the media on Monday. It was revealed that the cap was apparently set to begin on April 1st.
Metis Child and Family Services was made aware of the controversial cap well over a month ago.
"Because all my foster care staff were trained in that process -- we were looking at it," said Donald Langford with the Metis Child and Family Services Society.
Langford says the Edmonton agencies decided to keep the cap quiet.
"It was driven from the top down, when your just barely surviving sometimes you've got to take some of those punches," said Langford.
On Wednesday, the premier called out the opposition for not telling the government sooner.
"It's no big surprise that no one went to the minister and said, 'you know those cuts that you were making is resulting in cuts because the assumption is the ministry would know all along,'" said NDP MLA Rachel Notley.
The premier cancelled his usual Thursday media availability to the media due to scheduling conflicts. The premier is expected to answer question related to the controversial cap on Friday.
With files from Kevin Armstrong
