VICTORIA – New Democrats are standing with a mother and her teenage daughter who are being hurt by the B.C. Liberals’ policy of taking child support from children of single parents on disability and other income supports.

Victoria mother Jessica Sothcott and her daughter Rosie came to the Legislature today to share their story directly with the B.C. Liberal government.

“Every parent wants the best for their kids. Rosie deserves to benefit from the child support paid by her father. That’s what child support is for,” said Jessica Sothcott. “All I want is for the government to stop making it harder for me to provide opportunities for my daughter.”

Sothcott is on disability assistance. Her daughter, Rosie, has serious allergies that make it difficult for her to eat much of what the family can get from the food bank. She is supposed to receive $187 per month in child support from her father, but each and every month the B.C. Liberals take it away.

“No child in a province as rich as B.C. should ever have to go hungry,” said New Democrat social development critic Michelle Mungall. “Yet Rosie and her mother Jessica struggle every month just to put healthy food on the table because the B.C. Liberals take her child support away.”

It would cost approximately $17 million for the government to eliminate the clawback.

“When it comes to mega-projects, this government throws budgets out the window, with cost overruns in the billions of dollars. But as soon as it comes to families most in need, they’re taking money away.” said New Democrat leader John Horgan. “It’s time for the B.C. Liberal government to do the right thing and stop taking money from B.C.’s most vulnerable kids.”