Parents and upholders of children with disabilities demand financial and other benefits similar to those given to children with autism after the government of British Columbia discards plans to restructure its autism funding model.
Premier David Eby announced a week ago that the government will maintain its individualized funding for autism instead of the plan to phase it out in 2025.
The British Columbia province had proposed last October 2021 that they are overhauling the autism funding model and are creating a new system of "one-stop family connections hubs," where children and youth with disabilities can be provided with support with or without referrals or diagnoses.
The said plan was supposed to open access care to thousands of more families that are in need, and will end the existing programs that "has left too many children and youth with support needs behind," as quoted by BC Gov News from what the Minister of Children and Family Development, Mitzi Dean, said.
The province's plan to create 40 one-stop-shop hubs to assist children with different special needs and treat those yet to be diagnosed was said to be opposed by 34 autism-related organizations. These organizations worried that the proposed new system was "too generalized" and lacked clarity.
How about the other kids in need?
Many parents celebrated the announcement that the individualized autism funding will continue. However, a lot of other parents, as well as government representatives and advocates, were disappointed that the introduction of hubs serving all children with special needs have been paused.
It has been said that there are more than 8 thousand children and families that are currently not included from the existing program.
Jennifer Charlesworth, the province's representative for children and youth,expressed in her statement released Friday that she is encouraged that the existing program is here to stay and is able to continually help children diagnosed with autism. However, she emphasized that the issue is "much bigger than sustaining individualized autism funding."
"Children, youth and their families who are currently receiving no support cannot wait for consultation to occur and frameworks to materialize. The current system is inequitable and it is delivered unevenly across B.C. It is also insufficient to meet the current needs, marked by lengthy wait lists for assessments and services and, in some cases, offering no help at all," she declared as reported by Richmond News.
Charlesworth also emphasized that the current exclusive criteria of "infringes on the rights of those children who do not have the right diagnosis and are left with no supports at all."
She is knocking into the government and stated that an essential commitment of new funding to assist "underserved" kids in next year's provincial budget should be seen.
Read Also: How Does A Father With Special Needs Kid Help Raise Awareness About Autism? Through Hip-hop
'Grinch of Christmas'
Kutrina Shumuk, mom to twins with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), is one of the frustrated parents as she has been "waiting" and "counting down" the days until the hubs will be implemented.
She described Eby as the Grinch who stole their family's Christmas as he stole her hopes and ability to get help for her children.
She narrated how, at one point in her life, a worker from the Ministry of Child and Family Development recommended that she give up her son's custody to the father so he could be eligible to the current program of the province. And, last year, unfortunately, she needed to do the "unthinkable" because his son was becoming more violent and it was becoming more obvious that he needs the treatment she cannot afford.
Shumuk concluded that the province's lack of services to the most vulnerable kids that are in need of it had been the reason why her family has been "torn apart" and why this year is the first Christmas that her family will not be spending it complete.
It is not only Shumuk that is going through this kind of struggle. She is with other families who have children with FASD that are in need of services like therapy, speech and language pathology and respite, and are having difficulty paying for these expensive treatments from their own pockets.
Premier Eby, on the other hand, expressed that he knows and understands the urgency of the issue at hand, according to CBC News.
He assured parents and advocates that the government is looking at "interim funding" for these children. He also stated that they are developing a new system. However, he did not answer the question as to when the funding and the new system are going to happen.
Related Article: Parenting Children With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders: How Important Are Pre-Emptive Strategies?
