Report slams BC gaps, MOMs join Rep in urging new special needs support strategy

The BC government is coming under fire in the wake of a new report that strongly criticizes the Province's system of supports for children and youth with special needs and their families.

The report is titled " Isolated and Invisible: When chidlren with special needs are seen but not seen." It stems from an investigation launched by Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond's office after horrific media reports about a young girl with Down Syndrome who was found home alone and unattended 9 days after her mother died.

The report comes just months after BC's new Premier took office, promising an agenda for reform that would involve listening and putting "families first."  Turpel Lafond urges Ms. Clark's government to act urgently to develop and implement a new strategy to address serious gaps in support for some of BC's most vulnerable children and their families.

The BC Association for Community Living issued a press release today reinforcing the findings of Turpel Lafond's report.

Meanwhile, concerns about serious gaps in the province's system of supports for children and youths with special needs were highlighted again last week with the heart-breaking story of an Abbotsford Dad whose daughter was rem oved from the home and placed in a psychiatric facility.  The single father was struggling to raise two daughters with autism, without adequate family supports, and MCFD removed one of the daughters after she wandered away from home - a frequent challenge for many individuals with autism.

A Facebook page has been created to rally support for the Abbotsford family .

BC's ailing system of supports for children and youth with special needs

In BC, families of children with an autism diagnosis may receive funding to help families obtain specific early intervention therapies up to age 19. In most cases, the maximum funding only covers a fraction of the costs of required therapy. Red tape, arcane spending restrictions and complicated new rules have also made accessing this funding a nightmare for many families. Under this direct funding model, most families must also assume the role of employers, coordinators and case managers for the professionals involved in their child's therapy program, adding significantly to the stresses of parenting.

Children with other developmental disabilities, such as Down Syndrome, are still unable to access funding for early intervention therapy. Thus they have little if any opportunity to benefit from therapeutic interventions that can help them adapt and maximize their coping and independence skills.

The availability of family supports funded by the Ministry for Children and Families, such as respite, support workers and supports to access daycare, is severely rationed, as are special education services funded via the public education system. Family and education supports have become increasingly strained as Provincial funding has failed to keep pace with rising population levels and costs.

In addition, media reports over the tasering of a 10-year old child in a group home near Prince George have raised further concerns about the quality of care for children with special needs who are being raised in government care.

For many years, families, professionals and advocacy groups such as ours have been sounding the alarm that families are facing increasing and in some cases unbearable stresses. More and more children with special needs are being left behind due to British Columbia's fragmented, ineffective and inadequate network of supports for children and youth with special needs.

In 2008, Turpel Lafond published two reports (links here and here ) urging the province to take action to address serious gaps and flaws in the system of supports for special needs. Since then, budget pressures have resulted in further cuts. Key recommendations from Turpel Lafond's 2008 reports have not been implemented.

The BC government has not publicly consulted or discussed a comprehensive provincial strategy for supporting children with autism and/or other special needs and their families in the past decade that MOMS has been in existence.

Moms and other advocacy groups have been urging Premier Clark's government to undertake a comprehensive needs assessment to ensure that available new funds are targetted towards the most urgent gaps in the current service framework. We have for example challenged the province's commitment to spend $20 million on capital costs for constructing a new provincial autism centre in East Vancouver, arguing that those dollars would be far better spent on direct supports to families and children.

Update: Link to MOMS' letter to the editor published in the Victoria Times Colonist on July 7