BC United leader tours Starbright Children’s Development Centre in Kelowna – Okanagan | 24CA News
After saying his social gathering’s new identify on Wednesday, the chief of B.C.’s official opposition social gathering was in Kelowna on Thursday.
Kevin Falcon of BC United had quite a few conferences within the metropolis. And in between these conferences, he visited an area kids’s improvement centre slated for closure.
“The NDP are bound and determined to, you know, shut down locations like this, which have served so many generations of children so successfully,” Falcon informed Global News. “And we’re really trying to stop that.”
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Falcon’s go to to the Starbright Children’s Development Centre comes after centre employees prolonged an invite to each the chief of the opposition and Premier David Eby to see firsthand what the power is all about.
“We’re absolutely thrilled,” mentioned Starbright government director Rhonda Nelson. “We want him to see our facility, to have a walkabout, to listen to our board and our staff and the families.
“We’ve got families that have agreed to speak with him.”
The centre offers all types of therapies for kids with developmental challenges from delivery till school-entry age.
But after 57 years of service, the NDP authorities introduced it was terminating the contract with Starbright because it centralizes providers with a hub mannequin, creating pilot Family Connections Centres (FCC) for all kids as much as the age of 18.
“If they want to do a pilot project, great do a pilot project. But you know, why would you do a pilot project and close down what’s working so that you can see if something else works? That makes no sense to me,” Falcon mentioned.
“We’ve opposed it from Day 1. We think it’s the wrong direction. It’s clearly demonstrated in Ontario that has not worked for children. This idea that government knows best and you’re going to go to a government office and they’re going to tell you what services you need for your child is not the right approach.”
In Kelowna, the FCC contract was awarded to ARC Programs, a personal firm that sub-contracts providers to different personal corporations and not-for-profit organizations.
News of the closure led to a public outcry by previous and current mother and father who’ve come to rely upon the providers for his or her kids, together with a big protest held outdoors the power in February.
The pushback put stress on the federal government, which determined to increase Starbright’s contract by two years.
The contract is ready to run out in March 2025.
It means the centre and the households who rely upon the providers will as soon as once more be confronted with uncertainty round future providers and the way these shall be delivered to kids.
“The future is very unknown for them,” Nelson mentioned. “They want to know that services, such as the ones Starbright provides, will be there for them.”
Nelson hopes that if the federal government proceeds with the FCC mannequin, it would no less than embody Starbright by permitting the centre to proceed providing providers to kids and letting the brand new mannequin help youth, school-entry age and up.
“That’s what we have proposed over and over again, a potential solution that would honour what they have put in place for older youth, but also keep what currently exists,” Nelson mentioned.
And whereas Falcon will not be the choice maker, he mentioned he’ll proceed advocating for Starbright and different centres going through the identical destiny.
“Our voice matters. Working with parents with autistic children, we managed to get the government to pause their stripping away individualized funding,” Falcon mentioned.
“That was another thing that they were trying to do, and it was only because parents standing up with one voice along with the opposition to say ‘No, you can’t do that. You will hurt kids.’”
As for the premier’s invite, Eby has not but dedicated to a go to, however Nelson mentioned the supply stays open.
“Most definitely it is,” Nelson mentioned. “We would love to have him come and actually see us.”
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
