Since last year, Anna has relied on the YWCA Hamilton's supervised family access centre as the only link between her kids and their dad.

That's because a court has ruled he can only see them in a supervised setting.

But the program hasn't had a funding increase in eight years, and the waiting list is now nearly a year long.

For Anna, it just means rescheduling the lives of her and her three children. Her main concern, she said, is for other parents and kids who miss sharing first steps, first words and other important moments as the families languish on the long waiting list.

And the YWCA has another worry: that in some cases, parents are stepping outside the court order to arrange potentially dangerous unsupervised visits anyway, because they don't want to wait that long.

Anna's family and 105 others rely on the YWCA access centre, which oversees visits between children and non-custodial parents in cases where the courts have ordered those visits can only happen if supervised. Sometimes that's because of addiction, or domestic violence, or mental health issues. In every case, it's the only chance kids get to see their non-custodial parents.

The program has been cut from five to three days per week. The waiting list sits at about 10 months and growing, and in that time, most kids don't see their non-custodial parents at all.

This is a tragedy in the making. - Danielle Bozur, YWCA Hamilton program supervisor

"First steps are being missed," said Danielle Bozur, the program's supervisor. "Report cards are being missed. First dates are being missed."

"What's important here is that families right now don't have a viable option in terms of access to see their children."

Each year, the province gives $178,000 to the program through the Ministry of the Attorney General. But that money has stayed the same for eight years, says YWCA Hamilton.

While they're waiting for a spot in the supervised access centre, some go outside it and arrange unsupervised visits, which is potentially dangerous, Bozur said. It risks violence at worst. And when a court order is violated, the Children's Aid Society intervenes.

"This is a tragedy in the making," she said.

The program needs $98,000 more to maintain its current service, Bozur said. Without it, the agency has scrapped Monday and Wednesday visits and is only offering the program on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

You only get one childhood. - Anna, a parent whose kids rely on the program to see their dad

That's caused an issue for Anna, whose visiting day has changed from Wednesday to Saturday. "Our whole lives are scheduled around those visits."

But her bigger worry is for families who have to wait.

"My problems are small now in contrast to those on the waiting list," she said. "You only get one childhood. You only get one opportunity to grow up with your parents in your life on a consistent basis."

(CBC is identifying her by her first name only to avoid identifying her children.)

Andrea Horwath is involved

Andrea Horwath, Hamilton Centre MPP and Ontario NDP leader, spoke up on the issue this week.

"The Y has not received an increase in base funding for eight straight years, and has now had to cut back the hours, the days, the access that struggling families desperately need," she said in the Ontario legislature.

In an emailed statement, the Ministry of the Attorney General said it doubled the funding to the program to $8 million in 2008 – which was eight years ago. In 2013-14, said spokesperson Brendan Crawley, it gave some one-time funding to help address waiting lists, including the Hamilton YWCA's.

"We want to assure Hamilton residents that we are committed to ensuing wait lists are manageable and that we are actively exploring options to manage increased service demands," he said.

But Bozur said the program needs stable funding year after year. "One-time funding is really not the answer here."

Last year, the program facilitated 758 visits and 452 exchanges between parents.