Speaking up: 2009 children’s cuts
Please add your voice by signing the MOMs Petition here .
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- Telling it like it is
Standing up together: The power of words:
Here's what others are saying about cuts and gaps to services for children at risk and about the need to invest in BC's children. Please use the Comments forms below to share your own messages by copying and pasting your own letters to government.
Health Sciences Association:
Statement
AutismStories.ca: Parent voices
BC FamilyNet: Letter to Minister Polak
BC Association for Community Living: Press release
BC Coalition for People with Disabilities: Letter to Minister
Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion: Letter to Minister
Provincial Advisor, IDP: press release
Provincial Advisor, SCD: press release
MP Keith Martin: letter of support
Commentator David Schreck: Oct 28th day of action
Columnist Bill Tieleman: MOMs take on BC Liberals over funding cuts
Letters to the editor:
- Nov 13, Langley Advance
- Nov 11, Victoria Times Colonist
- Nov 6, Victoria Times Colonist
- Oct 20, Langley Times
***Have you signed the MOMs Petition yet? Add your voice here !***
November 11th, 2009 - 13:45
Dear Honourable Mary Polak,
I am writing this letter to you about the hardships we have had to face in the last year and a half as a family. Let me tell you a little about myself. Ever since I can even remember I wanted to have a family so at the age of 12 I began working full time. I worked long hard hours 6 days a week and at times had 2 jobs to save every single penny I had so I could be a stay at home mom and be the best possible mother I could be.
After being married my husband and I waited for 5 years to have children so our children would always have every single opportunity available for them. When Jessica was born on October 17, 2006 we were thrilled. She was Daddy’s little princess. She smiled willingly, giggled all the time and we both felt we could never be happier. She was such a good baby we decided to try for another one right away and our son Jacob was born 15 months later.
Shortly after Jacob was born Jessica seemed different she seemed somewhat in her own world. She would stare out windows, make repetitive humming sounds and would rock for what seemed like hours on end on the floor and ignore every person who came in contact with her including family members. One night when my husband was at work I laid down on the floor next to her and screamed in her ear repeating her name over and over again. She seemed like she was just looking through me and with no response continued rocking on the floor. My heart sank with sadness.
I kept saying to my husband something is wrong and at first he made some excuses explaining “she just has regressed because of the birth of our son Jacob.” My husband always being the strong one tried to protect my feelings to make me feel better.
I finally made and appointment with my family doctor which took one month to get into see her. I explained my concerns and with a concerned look on her face she referred me to a pediatrician. We waited another four long months just to get into see a pediatrician. After that waste of time we were then put on the list to get Jessica diagnosed through FHAN (Fraser Health Assessment Network) I filled out the paper work and received a letter back telling us there is a one year wait to get your child an assessment. I thought to myself I cannot wait a year for this there has to be some other way.
In the meantime I was suffering from depression. I had to go on antidepressants (which I might add have never had to be on in my life) I recall one horrible morning I woke up and my husband was working another long shift and couldn’t get out of bed. I felt as though I was suffering from a mental breakdown. My sister and mom had to take the day off work and drive to be by my side and help care for me and my children. I hate to burden people with my problems but I thank god I have such a great support system with my family. I don’t know how some parents get through this. We accessed a private service to get Jessica diagnosed and the end result was AUTISM. A little part of you dies inside after hearing these words. All your hopes and dreams for your child at that moment feel as though they are crashing down.
So now the hard part begins. Researching behavioral consultants, speech therapists etc. We met with several people, put Jessica on the EIBI waiting list at REACH and found a place that cost $2100.00 a month. It was a group program that the lady claimed you were getting more bang for your buck. Jessica would be receiving twenty hours a week and it was a center based program. We got one scheduled visit a month and I had some concerns about the amount of one on one time Jessica was receiving. I decided to drop in one day unannounced and discovered Jessica was in a room with one girl and three other children with Autism. I observed her humming in a corner. While one other child was lining things up, another was spinning in circles and another was playing with his fingers. This was a holding cell for the children so they could wait their turn to receive their one half hour session of one on one time.
We decided to pull Jessica out of that program, pay the $4350.00 start up at REACH and put her in the IF program for 10 hours a week.
In the meantime we have accessed private speech services. The waiting list at the Center for Child Development is 2 years and Occupational Therapy is 2 and a half years. I phoned 18 private speech therapy places, received one reply and was put on a waiting list for three months to access private speech therapy. Jessica goes two times a week at $130.00 an hour. We bought a sauna and a trampoline for our house, spent thousands of dollars on supplements and even put her on a strict diet of gluten free casein free food. We also have done 60 hours of hyperbaric oxygen treatment at $125.00 an hour.
We spend hours a day drilling her with flash cards and I read to her until my throat is sore. I try to tell myself that every second of the day her brain needs to be stimulated. This is extremely hard on our family because it is difficult to balance everything…running a household, being a wife and I do have another son who needs attention as well.
Every second of the day I think about Jessica. What lies ahead for her in the future? Will she ever lead a normal life? I love her more than words could ever describe and after hearing about so many success stories with EIBI like any parent I want the best for my child. EIBI was giving our family this chance. Like a child with any disease we would never turn our backs on these children, we would treat the problem. Autism is a disease. ABA is the only scientifically validated treatment for healing Autism. ABA is these children’s medicine. I will think about this decision every day of our lives whatever the outcome will be. This is our daughter’s and many other children’s life at stake. Please do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Lori Doucette
(Parent who will never give up)
November 11th, 2009 - 14:22
Premier Campbell,
Great Goal #3 of your Strategic Plan for BC is to “build the best system of support in Canada” for children with special needs and those at risk. A truly laudable goal – but one that has been forgotten.
While BC enjoyed record budget surpluses, waitlists for crucial supports grew even longer, both in and out of school. Now Children’s Minister Mary Polak has cut millions in front-line supports, eliminating key programs for autism, FASD, infant and child development and Aboriginal children at risk. Without any family consultation, Polak also cut $32 million from critical provincial monitoring and oversight roles that assure children’s welfare and safety and removed important delivery options, such as direct funding for autism subsidies, which will jeopardise effectiveness for some families.
Other portfolios have cut youth programs (mental health, addiction treatment), Special Olympics and funding for community-based children’s services. New education cuts will inevitably take their greatest toll on the most vulnerable and at risk students – i.e. the ones who need more support, not less. Despite promises a year ago, children and youths are still being IQ-tested and denied any help on that basis alone, even if they are clearly in crisis.
Apart from the lack of any consultation, there has also been no risk assessment of impacts – a shocking lapse on government’s part. And these recent cuts and changes accompany yet another major re-structuring of the Children’s Ministry that will further strain capacity to support children at risk.
Professionals, disability groups, families, community organizations, staff and ordinary citizens have pleaded with you, Minister Polak and your colleagues to reconsider the damage that you 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. (See attached EIBI fact sheet, for example, and find out more about this family-led campaign at http://MomsNetwork.ca ).
Families and other groups have met repeatedly with Minister Polak to explain all this. She has refused to help desperate BC families who have been thrown into crisis by restoring the supports that were giving their children clear hope of a future.
These cuts are not necessary – they’re about priorities. The revised BC budget commits $14 billion in new capital spending. You have personally committed $20 million to bricks and mortar for a new autism centre in Vancouver – tax dollars that will not provide an iota of support to children, despite the overwhelming advice from a provincial family survey last year that those funds should instead go to actual services, programs and supports of any kind. Alberta spends twice as much on autism for fewer kids – and hasn’t cut this despite a far higher deficit. BC’s cuts will also impose far higher costs on other ministries (education, housing, justice & social services). But Minister Polak says this is the best we can do to help BC’s vulnerable children.
As a parent, I know I join thousands of British Columbian families who have stood up to disagree. These cuts are foolish, short-sighted and inhumane. Denying supports to children in need and children at risk is not consistent with the values we hold as British Columbians. BC’s vulnerable children can’t speak up against these cuts, so it is our job as parents and citizens and yours as government officials to stand up for them.
Premier Campbell, British Columbians have entrusted you with the welfare of our children – you have the power and resources to rectify this. It is your duty to honour the promise you made to BC’s children. Please act immediately to restore, protect and strengthen vital supports for all children in need and at risk.
Signed,
Dawn Steele