New support coming for neurodiverse kids
Parents have many questions about system
B.C. is set to launch onestop support centres for children with issues like ADHD, autism and Down syndrome, but parents say promises of a no-wait system that won't require assessments or a diagnosis seem unrealistic due to a shortage of health-care professionals.
The plan is to open 40 so-called family connections centres, or hubs, across the province. Four are slated to provide services under a pilot program from next year — three in northwestern B.C., and another in the central Okanagan.
The province has given community agencies until July to tender for initial implementation of the program, and contracts are expected to be awarded in the fall. More proposals will be sought for the remaining centres that are to begin operating by 2024 to support neurodiverse kids and youth up to age 19.
Families of autistic children will then no longer get the current funding of up to $22,000 a year until age six, and $6,000 annually to age 18.
Instead, they will be provided services through the new system.
Julia Boyle, executive director of Autism B.C., said the province hasn't provided information about staffing and protocols for the “complex transition” to a new system that could have parents of thousands of neurodiverse kids “knocking on the doors of these hubs.”
There isn't enough time for consultations with advocacy groups before the pilot program starts, and to fully shift from individualized funding for autistic kids to the new hubs is another major change in two years, Boyle said.
“It makes more and more sense to have a phased rollout,” she said. “That's ultimately what I'm pushing for.”
Government “spin” over autism funding has created divisions about inequity because many parents of children with other needs have been paying out-of-pocket, Boyle said. That has led some to accuse the autism community of being “selfish,” she said.
The first four hubs will be in Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers and Kelowna. But it's unlikely many parents of autistic kids in those communities would choose to immediately give up funding and switch to the hubs, Boyle said, since participation in the pilot program will be optional.
Mitzi Dean, minister of Children and Family Development, said her ministry will be “observing where families are able to make that transition and what it is that's working for that transition.”
Dean said the goal of the new system is to give families access to a team of service providers from speech and occupational therapists to behavioural interventionists and replace a patchwork of programs that are “not working for far too many families.”
“Each family will have a primary member of a team that they will connect with, and they'll work together to design the circle of care to wrap around their children and youth with support needs,” she said.
Dean didn't directly respond to a question on whether psychologists and psychiatrists would be part of these teams but said mental-health support and professionals will be available without a referral.
Parents can access the centres when they start noticing their child isn't meeting certain milestones, she said.
It makes more and more sense to have a phased rollout. That's ultimately what I'm pushing for. Julia Boyle