B.C.'s representative for children, youth urges immediate help for kids with special needs

There are too many children with special needs in British Columbia who are being shortchanged or left ineligible by government assistance and support programs, says B.C.'s representative for children and youth.

Jennifer Charlesworth said Friday that thousands of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), Down syndrome and a wide range of other neurocognitive developmental needs receive little or no support from the province.

While she supports the New Democrat government's recent decision to reverse a plan to phase out individual funding for children with autism, she said Premier David Eby also needs to provide equitable resources to help all children with special needs.

"There are many families in B.C. with children who have special needs or support needs who receive no funding and no support under the current system,'' said Charlesworth during a virtual news conference from Victoria.

"These families need help now."

Eby said the decision to keep individualized autism funding came after recent meetings with parents, caregivers, Indigenous groups, child rights organizations and experts who lobbied the government about losing supports for children.

Parents of children with autism have been calling on the New Democrat government and Children's Minister Mitzi Dean to drop the plan since its announcement in October 2021.

B.C. had announced it would open 40 so-called family connections centres, or hubs, to provide services for children, instead of directly funding parents, but that has been paused with the exception of four pilot locations.

Delta's Kutrina Mosch, a single mother of teenaged twins with FASD, says she was devastated when she heard the province had scrapped the hubs.

"I have been just waiting, counting down for hubs to come in," she said.

Mosch thought she would finally be able to readily access help like speech and occupational therapists.

Now, she's back to struggling on welfare with piecemeal support.

The intense behavioural needs of her kids have made it impossible for her to work full-time, she says.

"My family has been torn apart with the lack of services that our province gives to the most vulnerable children that need it."