'It's huge for all of us': Sask. parents happy province has plans for adult child-care home

Every morning, Adrienne Zakreski spends an hour and a half preparing her 29-year-old son Evan for the day. She administers his medications, changes his clothes and helps feed him.

Her son has severe cerebral palsy and a number of other cognitive impairments that require constant medical care and supervision. Zakreski quit her job working at a biotechnology company to care for him full-time while her husband works. 

"I half sleep. I listen for that cough and then I'm up and running to suction him or roll him over to help clear his airway," she said. "It's a 24/7 job."

Zakreski is part of a group of Saskatchewan parents doing their best to care for their disabled children at home, but all say they need help.

"We have three sets of parents who are right around 70, and their kids are around 40," she said. "They're still caring for them at home. And some of them have extreme health conditions themselves. I honest to God don't know how they're doing it."

Zakreski and another parent, Shelley Elder, run Parents United for Specialized Housing. It advocates for dedicated care facilities for adult children with multiple disabilities. In November 2023 they sent a proposal to the Saskatchewan government to create a dedicated care home for children such as theirs.

On Wednesday, Social Services Minister Terry Jenson met with Zakreski and Elder during the provincial budget rollout, where he explained the government's plans to develop an eight-space group home in Saskatoon for disabled adults such as theirs.

"It's huge. It's huge for all of us," Zakreski said. 

According to the provincial government, the plan for the facility is still in its early stages, and "more information around timelines, costing and scope of services will be determined through the planning and procurement process."

The initiative is part of a broader set of updates to the Ministry of Social Services and Assistance. On Wednesday the provincial government announced that the ministry will receive an additional $77.3 million in the 2025-2026 budget, for a total of $1.84 billion. 

Shelley Elder, who cares for her son Jonathan, 39, who has spina bifida, hydrocephalus and paraplegia, says she and her husband have been caring for him themselves, and decided to send the proposal after experiencing issues with other group care homes. 

"The availability for a group home for a medically challenged individual who is intellectually and physically challenged, it is not there right now," she said.

"We know that if we put our children in long-term care, they will only survive, they won't thrive, and they will die in an accelerated death. We don't consider it an option."

The prospect of new care spaces, especially for younger adults with serious medical needs, is seen as an incremental step by Amanda Lewis, the director of the REALM Foundation, which helps foster support networks for people with physical disabilities and their families.