Parents confront Wynne at Windsor town hall
End of funding means 18th birthdays are ‘day of crisis’ for people with disabilities
Families with children who have developmental disabilities say they wait years for funding for supportive housing once their kids turn 18.
Parents and supporters asked Kathleen Wynne about the funding gaps once their children hit adulthood during a town-hall meeting Thursday night in Windsor, one of several such forums the premier has held across the province.
“Families lose their funding on their child’s 18th birthday,” said one. “We’ve asked repeatedly for this problem to be fixed” by continuing the funding until “Passport” funding is secured.
“We’ve been told that this issue is important to the government and that the ministry of community and social services is working on a solution,” she added, saying the milestone birthday is “a day of crisis,” not celebration.
Passport provides those 18 and up with monies to take classes or recreational programs and help learn life skills. It also can be used to hire support workers and give parents a break.
Wynne noted that $810 million was pumped into the system to help fill the gaps, but added: “I will just acknowledge that we have a system right now where young people have a lot of support through the elementary and secondary school years,” but then “they go out into a world that doesn’t have a lot of support for them.”
She said the province needs “better transition funding, so that once a student ages out of school programs, there is actually a way for families to provide services as the permanent programs get in place. I think we have housing challenges, too . . . and we need to provide better programming.”
She said “there needs to be a longterm plan and that’s what we’re developing.”