of Ford’s government has delayed the release of its audits in child welfare agencies again, saying the financial investigations — now more than a year late — will finally be released in the summer.
Financial audits of Ontario’s child welfare agencies were ordered by Premier Doug Ford in the summer of 2024 following growing pressure to reform the sector and they were originally due to be published in the spring of 2025.
That deadline came and went without a word and, in October 2025, the minister responsible promised that investigations were “weeks” away. But, again, the deadline passed without acceptance.
Now Children, Community and Social Services Minister Michael Parsa tells Global News his new target is the summer of 2026 – roughly a year and a half behind schedule.
“Some societies needed more time,” he said. “Remember, the purpose of this review was always to find ways to improve support and services. They needed more time, I want to make sure we get everything right.”
Parsa said he has received “preliminary” reports, but auditors are “looking to get more information from some of the companies.”
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The minister said he was willing to wait if he could provide better information when it was finally ready.
“I don’t want this work to stop,” he said. “When the final report is given to us by the third-party reviewer in the summer, I will make this finding public.”
Interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser said it was “suspicious” that the release of the audits continues to be delayed.
“I just think the government is using the audit the way they used things with the trustees – they’re pointing the finger of blame,” he said. “It will be interesting when the audits come out, what they do, but it’s almost (modus operandi) for this government.”
The investigations into the province’s 37 children’s aid organizations were announced last fall following a push for efficiency in the sector by Premier Doug Ford.
The suggestion of audits was first raised by the prime minister in the summer of 2024 at a press conference, with details following months later.
Unveiling the audit plan last October, government officials focused on financial indicators such as wages, real estate portfolios and deficits.
At the time, they pointed out that, over the past decade, there had been a 49 per cent fall in open protection cases, a 30 per cent fall in children in care and a 51 per cent fall in investigations being transferred to the continuing service.
Parsa insisted that quality was more important than speed in the case of delayed audits.
“This is not about putting out a report for the sake of doing it,” he said. “This is for us to identify gaps and improve support and services.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
