MOMs marks Children’s Day, 20^th year of UN Convention, with petition urging BC Premier to honour promises to kids

NOV. 19, 2009:—This Friday, Nov. 20 marks the 20^th anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child – a date that is also celebrated annually in Canada and elsewhere as universal Children’s Day.

The MOMs provincial family support network, which has staged a series of actions in recent weeks to draw attention to BC families’ concerns about new cuts and ongoing gaps in critical services for children at risk, is marking the occasion by officially launching an online petition urging BC’s Premier to start living up to commitments made to BC’s vulnerable children.

The UN Convention, a legally binding instrument, states that “in all actions concerning children …the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.” Article 23 notes the obligation of signatory states to provide special supports for children with mental and physical disabilities “in a manner conducive to the child's achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development.” Article 29, which deals with the right to a free public education, re-emphasizes the right to “development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.” Elsewhere, the Convention addresses the obligation of signatory states to support parents in meeting the needs of their children where families are unable to do so themselves.  

While the Convention acknowledges that state support will be shaped by available resources, nowhere does it suggest these supports should be way down on the list of national priorities, after political leaders and senior bureaucrats have enjoyed exorbitant pay and benefit increases and spent billions on hosting lavish events and costly physical infrastructure projects.   

Under Great Goal #3 of his Strategic Plan for BC, Premier Campbell implicitly acknowledged these commitments when he promised to “build the best system of support in Canada” for children with special needs and those at risk. It was a truly laudable goal – but one that was never honoured and that has now been forgotten.

While BC enjoyed record budget surpluses, waitlists for crucial supports grew longer, both in and out of school. Now Children’s Minister Mary Polak has cut millions, eliminating key programs for autism, FASD, infant and child development and Aboriginal children at risk. Other cuts include youth programs (mental health, addiction treatment), Special Olympics and funding for community-based children’s services. Polak also cut critical monitoring and oversight roles that assure children’s welfare and safety, and cut out important delivery options like direct funding. There was no risk assessment of impacts and these cuts accompany yet another major ministry re-structuring that will further strain capacity to support children at risk.

Just this week, a leaked Ministry memo revealed that the Ministry is already planning even deeper cuts targeting early intervention and community-based intervention for vulnerable children and youth in BC for 2010-11, in order to meet budget reduction targets.

Professionals, disability groups, families, community organizations, staff and ordinary citizens have pleaded with Premier Campbell, Minister Polak and their colleagues to reconsider the damage they are causing. Decades of research affirm the cost benefits of intensive early intervention and support for at-risk children – this offers real hope to struggling children and saves us all far more than it costs. For example, if families cannot cope with severely challenging children as a result of the cuts limiting access to therapy, the Ministry will be forced to assume professional 24/7 care for them, at a cost of $150,000 per child per year or more, possibly for the rest of their lives.

These cuts are not necessary – they’re about priorities that dishonour both the UN Convention and the Premier’s commitment under Goal #3. The revised BC budget commits $14 billion in new capital spending. Alberta spends twice as much on autism for fewer kids – and hasn’t cut this despite a far higher deficit. BC’s cuts will impose far higher costs on other ministries (education, housing, justice & social services). But Polak says this is the best we can do to help BC’s vulnerable children.

We disagree. These cuts are foolish, short-sighted, dishonourable and heartless. MOMs does not believe that denying supports to children in need and children at risk is consistent with the values that we hold as British Columbians. Since BC’s vulnerable children can’t speak up against these cuts, it is our job as parents and citizens to stand up for them. If enough British Columbians choose to speak up, government will have to respond. Remaining silent means turning our backs on each child in need.

We are therefore appealing to all British Columbians to join us by signing and circulating our petition urging Premier Campbell to honour the promises made to BC’s children by acting immediately to restore, protect and strengthen vital supports for all children in need and at risk.

Details of cuts, affected programs and our ongoing campaign at MOMs: http://MomsNetwork.ca 

MOMs media contacts: Cyndi Gerlach: 604 987-6608 h./ 604 831-6608 c. or momsonthemove@telus.net

Dawn Steele: 604 874-1416 h. /778 235-4998 c. or dawns@telus.net

The "North Region STOB 80 Reduction Planning Process and Principals" (sic) document refers to a process for "cost recovery" for the current year and outlines planning, roles, principles and provincial direction guiding a second process that is also now underway to determine further reductions for 2010-11 in order to meet Ministry budget targets.

While the document specifically refers to the process underway in BC North Region, Children's Minister Mary Polak has confirmed that this is a Ministry-wide initiative that affects all regions.

The leaked document refers to management teams being informed of budget targets at the outset of this process but does not stipulate what the funding reduction targets are for 2009-10 and for 2010-11. Minister Polak told Public Eye Online today that there were no targets and that this was just a discussion document, which is not consistent with what the Ministry document itself states (the Minister has also repeatedly claimed that there are no cuts, which is not consistent with any grasp of reality)

This process appears to be the same one cited in an earlier memo leaked via Public Eye in August, which cited a provincial budget reduction target of $3.6 million for 2009-10 for the contracted agencies under one provincial grouping.  

The STOB 80 Reduction document states that contract funding reduction plans for 2010-11 must be submitted by December 15 and approved by December 18, so that the Ministry can give notice to impacted contractors by January 31, 2010.

The document also outlines the provincial direction guiding the funding reduction planning process now underway:

• These reductions are consistent with the $32 million in cuts or "streamlining" being implemented internally by the Ministry.
• Consultation and collaboration with partners such as the Federation of Community Social Services of BC (Federation) and the BC Association of Child Development and Intervention (BCACDI) in exchange for the Ministry agreeing not to meet its reduction targets via across-the-board funding cuts.
• Non-discretionary services that already face significant cost pressures to be exempted: Children in Care (permanency planning), Delegated Aboriginal services, Child Care, Autism, Medical Benefits and Nursing Support
• Budget cuts will primarily affect community-based intervention and early intervention services and non-residential services, whether the contracts are managed by the MCFD Regions, provincially or under CLBC
• Cuts "required for 10/11 fiscal year may involve some service reductions after all other opportunities for savings have been exhausted."

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REDUCTIONS

1. Funding services outside the Ministry Mandate (NOTE: MCFD's legislated mandate cover a very narrow range of child protection services, so this is a very broad range)
2. Uncommitted Funding Review
3. Discretionary funding
4. Contracts  that have Repetitive  Surpluses
5. Resolve any commitments that are greater than allocated budget
6. Reorganising contracts to provide efficiencies
7. Programs not Providing any Direct service

 GUIDANCE

1. A communities vulnerability must be considered when planning reductions
2. Non Aboriginal Agencies First
3. Reductions to Agencies must not affect their financial Viability
4. Large contractors have the potential to manage some reductions through efficiencies

Moms shared this information earlier today with community groups, agencies, Ministry staff, media and the Opposition critic, calling for a transparent public process to review where BC is going with regard to services for vulnerable children in this province.  Other concerns raised:

• That Minister Polak and her senior staff have consistently and repeatedly denied to family stakeholders, the public, the Legislature and the media that budget cuts are in store or occurring within our sector, while discussing budget cuts for the current year and further cuts in the year ahead with staff and contracted agencies. 
• The extent to which some or all contracted community agencies have helped government to keep families and the public in the dark about budget cuts expected to negatively impact vital early intervention services for thousands of at-risk children in this province.

This Friday, we mark the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which committed us all to putting the interests of children first.

MOMS calls on all those who still believe in that commitment to join us in making it clear that budget cuts to ANY services, programs or sectors that serve vulnerable children in BC are not acceptable - NOT when existing budgets already deny vital services and supports to so many children with special needs and children at risk in our province and NOT when this province can simultaneously afford to spend BILLIONS on other "priorities".

"M. Karagianis: When we look at things like the EIBI program…. Let's talk about that very specifically — the financial implications, which the minister has said is really the sole issue here around why this program was cut. Why did the government not make an attempt to sit down with program providers and families and try and find a way to provide what is very admittedly an exceptional program with exceptional outcomes to more families, rather than saying, "Because we can only reach 70 families at a time, we're cutting the whole program," and rather than actually finding a way to make that very effective program available to, perhaps, more people?

I've talked to program providers, and at no time did the government sit down with any of the program providers and say that "$70,000 per child" — if that is, in fact, the real number — "is not acceptable, and can we find a way to provide this program more cost-effectively?" No program provider was ever approached.

In fact, the government, by their own documentation, has said that because only 70 families at a time were able to take advantage of that program, we're doing away with it completely. The substitute for that, for all families now, is perhaps another hour a week in the kinds of therapies that $20,000 and $22,000 will buy. I'm sure that the minister and the government generally are getting the kind of enormous pressure from families that is very evident to members of the opposition.

I have attended numerous rallies. I have got truckloads of e-mail, as I'm sure has the minister. I have been cc'd on all of the correspondence that has gone to the government on this.

In the case where the outcome for children is so markedly improved and the support systems going forward for children into the future are so much more cost-effective by providing this kind of early and intensive behavioural intervention, why has the government not chosen a path of trying to reach the best possible outcomes, best practice — if we can use those terms?

I know the ministry talks about best practice in everything they do. Yet when I look at this, and many other cuts, it would seem to me that we've gone from best practice to lowest common denominator. Perhaps the minister could just say whether, in the business sense of taking the outcome for these children forward for the rest of their lives where they're not dependent on government funding or support or teaching assistance or anything else as an outcome of this….

It would seem to me that the savings are millions of dollars in the lifetime of a child versus a fairly modest investment at the front end. Why has that not been the criteria? Or would the government consider making that the next step — to try and find a way to work with families and service providers to take advantage of what is a very effective program? To see this thing disappear altogether — except for the wealthy, who might be able to afford it — seems a tragic decision to make and certainly not a good business decision for the ministry to make.

Hon. M. Polak: In fact, that is exactly what we are doing. It is incorrect to say that we are eliminating the EIBI program. We are eliminating the $70,000-per-child support..."

View the rest of the debate here and here and here.

Family photo: Nov 6 rally at Mary Polak's Langley office

Thanks to all the families who came out to Langley Friday for the rally co-hosted Friday by MOMS and FAIR (Families Fighting Against Autism Intervention Reductions) to highlight autism cuts. (Especially the heroic Victoria folks who got up at 5 am to pack up kids & minivans to make it!!).

A great family turn-out, strong local media interest & fantastic public support more than made up for the horrible weather.  Mary Polak decided to close her office for the day, but no one seemed too offended. later, parents distributed hundreds of flyers (attached) explaining the impact of cuts & why they are so foolish, inhumane and short-sighted.  

Check out a mini U-tube clip  or photos of the energetic FAIR families on their Facebook page (pls join to show support while you're at it!) 

Langley rally: One Mom tells it like it is

Next rally:

• Friday, November 13 at 12 noon
• Premier Gordon Campbell's MLA office, 3615 West 4th Ave in Point Grey, Vancouver. 

This rally is organized by FEAT BC (Families for Early Autism Treatment) to highlight concerns over Minister Polak's cancellation of the direct funding option in the autism program. FEAT families supported the EIBI rally in Langley and we encourage other families to show support for their concerns. We're all in this together! ...and hopefully the BC government will start to see that we're not going away and we're not shutting up!

2. Next Steps: Broader  MOMs campaign

Despite rallies, meeting, letters, calls & emails, government is still not listening. In addition to recent cuts to vital children's services (e.g. IDP, SCD and EIBI), Premier Campbell has failed to honour his promise to children with special needs and children at risk by fixing existing problems: waitlists, underfunding of Special Education, denial of early intervention services to many children, repeal of the IQ 70 limits to access services. 

So MOMS is planning an extended next phase of action that takes our message directly to British Columbians, who have demonstrated strong support wherever we've created awareness of these concerns.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

We need financial support for this next phase to develop and run targeted ads and public service announcements in local community media, explaining why the cuts and the failure to fix other gaps for special needs and kids at risk is foolish, short-sighted and inhumane. We'll be urging British Columbians to take a simple step to indicate their support & join us in telling their MLAs, Premier Campbell and Minister Polak that BC's vulnerable kids deserve better and that cutting now means paying more later.

Please contact us if you can provide financial support or if you have potential leads or connections to other organizations in your community who can support this campaign. MOMs has already received our first grant (a big thank you to BC FamilyNet Society for helping to cover recent rally costs!!). Since having $$ is a first for MOMS, we are making arrangements with a "blue chip" registered organization to receive and manage further donations on our behalf.
 
Thanks for all those supporting us by participating or behind the scenes! With your support, we can do it! And when we actually get out and hear the fantastic public support out there, it makes all the effort worthwhile!!

Where:     Mary Polak's Langley Constituency office, 20611 Fraser Highway, Langley

Please join parents from around the province who will be travelling to Langley on Friday for a protest action as they continue the fight to save autism intensive early intervention (EIBI) programs.  Meet us outside Mary Polak's Langley office. We'll have signs and banners or bring your own.

Early intervention works! EIBI programs have decades of proven research behind them. They significantly reduce the burden on public schools/special education and liefelong social services.

BC can afford these programs! Last week, Minister Polak personally informed us that she has sufficient funding in her budget to save these programs and that cutting them is her choice because she thinks the increasing incidence of autism makes them unsustainable!

This is not just inhumane, but short-sighted and foolish. The costs of these EIBI programs have been stable since their inception in 2001 - provincial autism costs have increased drastically in other areas, not EIBI. And the additional lifetime costs for a single child who needs EIBI and doesn't get it are more than twice as much as the potential savings from cutting the entire provincial EIBI program!! BC taxpayers will pay far more by cutting these programs!

Polak's choice = Campbell's broken promise: In 2005 Premier Campbell promised to build the best system of supports in Canada for children with special needs and children at risk. Instead of cutting vital programs, BC needs to invest in expanding intensive early intervention to all children who need it! Alberta, for example, spends twice as much on autism alone as BC does, despite having fewer children, and has not cut early intervention despite a provincial deficit twice as large as BC's.

Please help us send a strong message to Minister Polak and Premier Campbell: BC can't afford to cut these programs.

If enough caring people stand up, government will listen - we have demonstrated this over and over again. If you can't make it Friday, please:

• E-Mail Mary.Polak@gov.bc.ca and ask her to reverse her plans to cut EIBI programs
• Phone her office at 250-387-9699
• Write her a letter at PO Box 9057 Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC, V8W 9E2

(Please distribute widely, with apologies for cross-postings!)

Vancouver, October 13, 2009

Premier Campbell's  forgotten promise:

BC government's 2006 - 2009 Strategic Plan: 5 Great Goals for the Golden Decade:

Goal #3: 'Build the best system of support in Canada for persons with disabilities, those with special needs, children at risk, and seniors.'

Three years later, the BC government has forgotten all about about Great Goal #3. We've seen no improvements in supports for children and youth with special needs. Existing systems are being dismantled and services cut, with no effort to resolve long-standing service gaps:

• Intensive intervention programs for autism axed, despite overwhelming need & evidence these programs work well & expert advice that direct funding is not an effective alternative for many.
• Parents who effectively manage autism funding forced to switch to Ministry-administered payments. This will create new problems, including delays and higher costs
• Provincial offices that provide direct services including oversight, coordination, training and standards for community Infant Development Programs and Aboriginal IDPs to be axed.
• Axing of the provincial Supported Child Care office, which was recently created to resolve problems from the lack of oversight, coordination, training & consistency in local SCC programs.
  • URGENT NOTE: A month's notice won't allow SCC staff to properly transfer roles. Pls. urge govt to at least extend these roles to March 2010 to permit an orderly transition.
• Healthy Choices in Pregnancy program, which focussed on reducing FASD - axed
• Budget for children in care - reduced
• Youth mental health programs cut, along with programs for youth fighting addiction
• Capital grants and funded spaces for childcare programs - reduced
• $32 million in cuts to Ministry staff who manage & deliver programs and supports.
• Front-line agencies that deliver programs ordered to make further cuts totalling $3.6 million.
• Roots of Empathy program cut
• NO risk assessment or consultation with families & agencies about impacts of cuts!

Savings from these cuts are NOT being used to expand services to children currently waitlisted or denied access to services & family supports (e.g. children with Down Syndrome). 

• Young adults still denied services on the basis of IQ, contrary to promised policy change.
• Thousands of children still denied urgently-needed services or waitlisted. Govt has failed to document waitlists and service gaps or to demonstrate any progress in resolving these despite years of promises.
• MCFD has spent over a year restructuring services for children with special needs - again! - with no effort to consult families who are the primary partners in delivering most children's supports.

We can afford to do better

The BC government argues this "belt tightening" is needed because of tough economic times. Yet:

• Premier Campbell failed to strengthen front-line services and supports for children and youth with special needs and their families despite record budget surpluses in recent years.
• His government continues to waste millions on endless restructuring of children's services 
• The Premier has committed $14 billion to new capital spending in his 2010 budget at the same time that vital children's programs are being cut.
• Premier Campbell remains committed to spending $20 million on bricks and mortar to help construct a new autism building in Vancouver, after BC families overwhelming stressed in a MOMS survey last year that maintaining and enhancing services was by far the top priority.

MOMS get Militant again

Concerned BC parents formed Moms on the Move (MOMS) in 2001 to fight drastic cuts to children's services and we've become the largest family network supporting children with special needs in BC. Parents have urged MOMS to speak up again, and an expanded MOMS advocacy committee met October 10 and agreed that:

• MOMS will re-organize and work with other groups to lead a broad-based campaign to alert families, the public and MLAs about growing gaps and new cuts affecting children & youth with special needs, contrary to govt claims that it's protecting/enhancing services.
• MOMS will put the 'Militant' back in our name to convey families' frustration over the province's failure to address serious gaps and further erosion of support. BC's moms and dads are determined to hold Premier Campbell accountable to his promises to BC's children.

Advocacy campaign: Phase 1:

ACTION 1: Urge the Provincial Budget Committee to reverse these cuts and address serious service gaps for BC's most vulnerable children and youth

Please join those speaking up for BC's vulnerable children. The Finance & Government Services Committee is accepting public input on budget priorities for the 2010 BC Budget. Anyone can email comments or simply complete a quick online survey until the October 23 deadline. 

Answer the quick online survey here:

Or e-mail your comments to: FinanceCommittee@leg.bc.ca (Please include your contact information)

ACTION 2: If you haven't already done so, copy your comments to your local MLA - or to every BC MLA at once, by copying and pasting the email list below. Ask your MLA what he/she will do to respond. Ask to meet in person if you have time. Let them know how many voters in your family and circle of friends agree that BC's vulnerable children deserve better.

MOMS is setting up a new Web site and provincial organizational structure and connecting with provincial and community partners to support families in ongoing advocacy - stay tuned for more. We're also seeking volunteers from across BC, so please let us know if you wish to get more involved in supporting further advocacy initiatives!

Dawn Steele & Cyndi Gerlach, for

Militant Moms on the Move

MLA Email list