Concerns grow over centralizing support services for children – Okanagan | 24CA News
When Amie Hough discovered about Kelowna, B.C., changing into one of many 4 communities chosen for a pilot household connections centre, she stated she was blindsided.
“My first reaction was shock and surprise,” stated the involved mother of a teen with Down syndrome.
“Because of the lack of communication, the lack of local consultation, lack of transparency, this feels a bit political and it feels like our kids in our community are a pawn in a bigger political game.”
Her 13-year-old son Oliver has been receiving speech and occupational therapies since he was born.
The province is making an attempt a brand new means of delivering these companies to youngsters like Oliver and that has Hough, who can be the father or mother coordinator of the Kelowna Down Syndrome Community group, very involved.
“I think we’re kind of experimenting with our most vulnerable population, and that’s children with disabilities and it just doesn’t feel right to me,” Hough advised Global News.
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The authorities is centralizing help companies by creating ‘pilot family connections centres’, the place youngsters as much as the age of 18 can entry companies no matter whether or not they have a proper analysis or not.
“I think the hub model may benefit some families who have never had access to funding because they don’t have a formal diagnosis…that is however going to really open the doors to serve a lot of people. So how, how is this little bit of funding going to be spread across this huge population?” Hough stated.
“The concern is for all families, will that dilute services? Will I get less options, less amount of services that I’m currently getting? There’s just so many unknowns right now.”
Hough is the father or mother coordinator of the Kelowna Down Syndrome Community group. She says many mother and father of youngsters with Down syndrome are nervous concerning the new mannequin.
“In a therapeutic environment, relationships are everything and it takes a long time to establish that,” Hough stated. ” Children with mental disabilities battle with change. They battle with social connections.”
In an e-mail to Global News, the Ministry of Children and Family Development acknowledged, “pilot family connections centres represent an increase in provincial funding and resources for children and youth with support needs, including families of children with Down syndrome.”
The e-mail went on to say, “this means children and youth with support needs, including Down syndrome, will be able to access to additional supports through family connections centres, some of which they may not currently have access to at all. ”
The centralized system was going to incorporate youngsters residing with Autism, too, however after an uproar by B.C. mother and father, the federal government scrapped these plans, conserving the established order of individualized funding.
“I stand by the Autism community, it just sort of baffles me that we are we are sort of segregating the disability population and saying that these children deserve the individualized funding that works for them. So we’re going to keep that…these children (with Down syndrome), they don’t get that option.” Hough stated.
Parents of youngsters with Down syndrome have lengthy been preventing for a similar individualized funding that households with youngsters on the Autism spectrum obtain.
They now concern a centralized system might quash any hope of that.
“I fear that our struggle on a provincial and native degree goes to be a bit dismissed or forgotten about, Hough stated.
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The new household connections centre shall be operated by ARC Programs, which was awarded the contract by the provincial authorities.
ARC is a non-public firm that may subcontract companies to different non-public firms and non-profit organizations.
The centre shall be situated contained in the Capri Centre Mall.
The new centre will exchange the companies at the moment offered by Starbright Children’s Development Centre.
The non-profit group has been offering companies to youngsters from beginning till college entry age within the Central Okanagan for the previous 57 years.
It is slated for closure because of the federal government centralizing companies however a deadline has not but been introduced.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
