Long-standing and new concerns have been raised about the recent government decision to keep a range of community living services for children with special needs, including children with developmental disabilities and their families, at CLBC, breaking agreements by Ministers and senior bureaucrats. Information on this decision and fact sheets on the agreements can be accessed on our website at the following link: http://www.bcfamilynet.org/Feedback_2006_ChildrensService_announcement.html
Since the process of restructuring of community living services began, there has been considerable controversy about dividing services for children with special needs. BC FamilyNet Society has urged the current and previous Ministers, as well as the Premier to address key issues before the transfer of any services for children with special needs, including autism, to CLBC. We have repeatedly raised concerns, including fragmentation of services, and CLBC's readiness and capacity to take on the responsibility without added risks to both children and adults. We have also urged that all concerned groups be brought together to try to resolve these issues.
A summary of the key issues and concerns that have been raised is provided below. We have also included below a copy of a letter to the Chair of CLBC written by a parent of two special needs children. This illustrates from her first hand experience, some of the key concerns raised and that the existing arrangement – which has CLBC delivering services for children and youth with special needs - is not the best service delivery approach for all children and their families. However, a recent CLBC news release states that it is, and that community partners and families support children's services remaining with CLBC (See "News Release" on the same BC FamilyNet web page link provided above)
It's important that families make their views known if they have concerns and support the call for the Minister's urgent action to find compromise solutions that address the concerns and work for all families. These issues should not be permitted to divide families. (Contact info for the Minister, CLBC and BC FamilyNet is below).
Hon. Stan Hagen, Minister of Children and Family Development
Lois Hollstedt, Chair, Community Living B.C.
E-Mail: info@communitylivingbc.ca (please make sure to address your message to Lois Hollstedt, Chair, CLBC within the e-mail)
Fax: 604-664-0765
BC FamilyNet Society:
The B.C. Association of Child Development and Intervention (BCACDI) has outlined key issues and concerns in a letter to the Minister (BCACDI is a provincial association of agencies which provide child development and therapy services to children with special needs and their families in B.C.) Their letter can be viewed at the following link: http://www.bcfamilynet.org/Feedback_2006_ChildrensServiceCLBC.html
The Moms on the Move group has also issued statements in response to this latest decision and news release. Full details are available from the MOMS group, by e-mailing them at momsonthemove@telus.net
This and breaking news on other topics of interest regarding MCFD and CLBC have been reported on the "Public Eye Online" website. Should you wish to check it out, go to http://www.publiceyeonline.com/
SUMMARY OF ISSUES
Eligibility: Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and special needs currently receiving or eligible for services do not meet CLBC's far more restrictive mandate to serve individuals with developmental disabilities and IQ under 70.
Fragmented System: With various Ministries, authorities, and so many agencies and people involved, families can easily be caught in a perpetual cycle of referral to someone else.
Elimination of Case Management Role: In CLBC's model about to be implemented, social workers/case managers will be facilitators/planners who are not assigned to an individual or family on an ongoing basis to monitor or case manage. Client loads in their new role may be doubled. While this might not be a big issue for some families experienced and skilled in navigating the system, what about all those who are not in a postion to cope with this added challenge?
Seamless Transition: CLBC presents a valid argument in that managing children and adult services together can facilitate more seamless transition to adult services. But managing those services together under MCFD didn't help because of a shortage of funding, which is even more of a challenge for CLBC. In addition, there is now the concern that children will start "hitting the wall" when they transition at age 6 instead of at 19.
Risks: Implementation of CLBC's new service model is just now getting underway. This is an experimental model. There has been no risk assessment completed on it to understand if the children supported by CLBC are safe.
Budget Protection: It's not clear who will control budgets and access policies for autism and other special needs programs, and there is no assurance under CLBC's current policies and mandate that those programs would continue to be funded. CLBC's recent budget increase restores only a fraction of what was cut and they face enormous challenges in meeting basic adult needs alone in the coming years.
________________________________________
Letter from a parent sent April 24, 2006 to Lois Hollsted, Chair, CLBC
Dear Lois
I have two boys who are on the Autism Spectrum. My older son turns 19 in August and my younger son will turn 14 in the next few days. Both boys have IQs over 70.
We moved to Richmond from Vancouver two years ago and my boys' files stayed in Vancouver due to extenuating circumstances regarding my younger son. Now there is confusion as to where the files for my boys will reside. It has been suggested that my younger son's file will be transferred to Richmond and my older son's file will stay in Vancouver. How does this benefit my family?
In the meantime, my younger son's Extended Autism Contract needs to be renewed at the end of this month. Hopefully, his contract will not "fall through the cracks". Needless to say I have left a voice message with our Social Worker in the Vancouver office regarding my son's contract. It will be interesting to see who eventually calls me back. I realize this issue is strictly short term and will eventually be resolved hopefully with a minimum of disruption and angst on anyone's part. But it does illustrate a point that the transitions are not all smooth sailing and seamless.
From a longer term perspective, I do not like the CLBC model of operation. My life is so busy with my boys as it is without adding an additional responsibility onto my shoulders of coming up with a "plan" in conjunction with a CLBC worker. I am also concerned that this "plan" will be unnecessarily intrusive into our private lives and allow for what I consider to be inappropriate scrutiny of us as a family - in effect, a violation of our privacy.
Furthermore, the whole idea of putting CLBC into place was to ensure a seamless transition from childhood into adulthood. Well, my boys are going to be unceremoniously dumped from the system when they turn 19 whether they are with MCFD or CLBC. So where's the benefit to my family?
Further to this point, there is a concern that our children's Extended Autism funding will be cut long before they turn 19 because the budget just won't be able to support them and/or CLBC's mandate does not include people with IQs over 70.
I am also concerned with the idea that we will not have an assigned worker from a CLBC office. One day I could be talking to one person and the next day another person. When a family is in crisis mode, they cannot be expected to continually bring different CLBC staff up-to-date. It just adds too much stress to what can already be an extremely challenging situation when you have to cover the same ground over and over again. I cannot even begin to imagine what it will be like for families where English is a second language.
I look forward to hearing from you regarding my concerns.
