Legal Assistance of Windsor is warning about the risks of a planned cut to the Transition Child Benefit by the Ontario government.
The province plans to axe the benefit in November 2019, which helps low income parents with a newborn, who do not receive the Ontario Child Benefit or Canada Child Benefit.
The plan acts as a gap for parents on social assistance who haven't filed income tax returns or for refugee claimants.
Legal Assistance of Windsor Executive Director Marion Overholt says it amounts to about $230 per month for each child.
It is launching a community campaign to raise awareness of the issue and will reach out to Windsor City Council looking for support, to reach out to the provincial government to reverse its decision.
"If that money is taken away there isn't a replacement for it and what it would mean is that parents would have to make more use of food banks, they would be returning to school breakfast programs," says Overholt.
She notes that some families may not even be aware they will lose the money.
"When families find out they are going to lose this benefit, it is just going to cause a great deal of hardship, financial strain and a great deal of worry and it is so unnecessary."
Overholt calls the money a 'lifeline' to parents to pay for clothes, food on the table and housing.
— With files from AM800's Zander Broeckel