It goes without saying that no one should lose their kids simply because they’re poor. But that some do is the distressing conclusion of a new study of Ontario children taken into care.

Indeed, the study of removal rates in 2013 found children whose families ran out of money for housing, food or utilities were twice as likely to be placed with foster parents or in group homes as their peers.

It’s got to stop. “These families struggle to put food on the table, they struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Some of them work two or three jobs,” said the co-author of the report, Deborah Goodman. But still their children are taken from them and put into care with foster families or in group homes.

Sadly, they may fare a lot worse there than they would have with their own families. In fact, one study indicated that just 46 per cent of Ontario children in foster care and group homes complete high school, compared with about 84 per cent of their peers with permanent families. As a result, they are more likely as adults to be poor and/or homeless, to suffer mental health problems and be involved in the criminal justice system.

So why are children being taken from their homes simply because their parents are poor? It’s a product of the former Ontario Conservative government’s actions in the 1990s, when it slashed welfare payments and social services while at the same time introducing the notion into children’s aid societies of maltreatment by “omission,” which included not having enough food in the home.

Not surprisingly, with those two factors occurring at the same time, the number of children taken into care spiked.

The solution is for the province to create social safety net policies that address the fact that some 550,000 children in this province live in poverty.

In the meantime, child-care workers shouldn’t have to remove kids from homes where parents are struggling to feed and house them. They should instead be able to access support programs to help parents provide for their children and get families back on their feet.

For far too long the province has ignored poverty as a factor in child removal rates. Goldman, a senior official with the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, says officials have not even asked for data on poverty.

But now, thanks to Goldman and the co-author of the report, Kofi Antwi-Boasiako, they’ve got it. Now they must act to ensure that no parent loses a child simply because they are poor.