Update on MCFD restructuring & budget
The Ministry for Children & Families, which now has responsibility for managing and funding all out-of-school services and supports for children and youth with special needs, faces significant challenges in the year ahead.
Despite promises to protect the budgets for special needs, senior Ministry staff have confirmed that unfunded new costs and rising demands will further strain existing services. On top of this, the Ministry is in the midst of another major restructuring, which includes integrating special needs services with other children's services in a new regional management framework.
MOMS was invited to a meeting on February 15 for an update on Ministry plans and challenges. Our unofficial report on the discussion can be found here . We will continue to share any further information or updates as they reach us and welcome first-hand reports from families about how the restructuring and budget challenges may be affecting them personally.
Leaked MCFD memo reveals planned cuts
Leaked MCFD documents obtained today by MOMS describe a process that has been underway since August 2009 to achieve "baseline funding reductions" for contracted agencies that deliver most of the Ministry's front-line services and supports - with a focus on cuts to community-based intervention and early intervention.
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.
BC Children’s Budget debate
The BC Legislature debated the Ministry for Children & Family Development's revised 2009-10 budget on Nov 4-5. Below, an extract of Opposition Critic Maurine Karagianis questioning Minister Mary Polak about autism cuts:
"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?
MOMS ACTION: Summary of cuts
Tell the BC government that investing in children is a top priority . (Deadline for 2010 Budget input: Oct. 23)
(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.
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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.