YW Calgary to end children, family counselling due to provincial funding cuts

An organization that supports women and children by addressing family violence and poverty says it will no longer offer children and family counselling after it lost funding from the provincial government.

YW Calgary says in a post to social media that it is closing its Children and Family Counselling program as of Aug. 29.

“We acknowledge the impact this decision has on our Counselling team and the families who access this program,” the organization wrote. “YW believes that Children and Family Counselling is an important part of our service delivery, and we will continue to explore alternative funding opportunities to support this work.”

In the meantime, YW Calgary says it is pausing all new referrals and intakes for the program.

Families who are already accessing the service will continue to be support during the transition, it adds.

In a statement to CityNews, the province says overall funding for YW Calgary has increased in 2025-26, adding that the cancelled program was funded by a separate grant that expires in August 2025.

“In June 2025, we announced that this grant program had been updated and renamed as the Taking Action on Family Violence Grant program which invests $6 million in direct frontline services to improve access to services for Albertans,” reads the statement from Searle Turton, Minister of Children and Family Services.

Turton says YW Calgary has applied for the new grant and the recipients will be announced “in the coming months.”

Alberta NDP Shadow Minister for the Status of Women, Julia Hayter, is calling on the government to reverse the cuts to programs designed to support victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

“It is unconscionable that the UCP government is cutting funding for a program aimed at protecting and supporting vulnerable Alberta children and family members experiencing violence while it brags about a surplus,” she said in a statement. “This means the UCP government has the money but is actively choosing to cut funding to groups like YW Calgary that provide a wide range of victim support.”

All other YW Calgary counselling programs, such as Adult Counselling, and group programs for the prevent and treatment of family violence, will continue.