Children and Family Services Act looking to change age definition

Some organizations are concerned a proposed change to Nova Scotia's child protection legislation could have an unintended adverse effect.

Proposed amendments to the Children and Family Services Act would define a child as being under 19 — up from the current age of 16.

The change is meant to help vulnerable youth who under current legislation are too old for child protection services to get involved, but too young to qualify for other assistance programs.

However, the change would mean the age for mandatory reporting of sexual assault or sexual violence would also be raised to 19 — and detractors fear this could deter victims of sexual assault who are younger than 19 from reporting the incident.