The Ontario Liberal Critic for Children, Community and Social Services has released a report to address provincial autism services.
Michael Coteau says the document contains nearly 40 recommendations and seven of them are specifically for Northwestern Ontario.
The report follows comprehensive consultation with families and others across the province and focuses on four key issues:
-Clarity, Communications and COVID-19
-Funding, Frustrations and Failures
-Challenges for Service Provider Organizations
-Challenges in the North
Coteau says in our region, program capacities are a big issue.
“And that’s because of the funding cuts up in the north. So families, even if they are actually allocated some resources, have no where to spend it because the programs aren’t there.
The seven recommendations for northern Ontario include:
1. Understand the degree to which travel costs will dominate any expenses families are facing. Therefore, cover the costs of travel, special equipment, communication tools, etc so that remote/virtual therapy and staff training does not come out of the OAP funding allocated for a child, but rather a separate funding stream. All monies in the OAP need to go to direct services.
2. Develop and communicate a strategy for reducing wait times for diagnosis, especially in Northern Ontario where subsidized diagnosis has become a multi-year wait and private diagnosis is prohibitively expensive for most families.
3. Recognize that there is a capacity crisis in the North and develop a separate, comprehensive Northern plan. Such a plan must include a strategy to address untenable diagnostic wait times and prohibitively expensive private diagnosis options. The plan should also include strategies to incentivize, recruit and retain qualified practitioners to the area.
4. End any further defunding of current programs and continue with a single point of access (regionally or locally) such as Child Care Resources who can work with local partners in each community (i.e. provide training).
5. Expand the Single Plan of Care Coordinator program for those with complex needs (i.e.
multiple diagnosis).
6. Regional representation must be ensured, comprehensive with clear expectations. The Northwest, Northeast, Far North and remote First Nations must be included on any decision making bodies with at least 3-5 individuals from each Region
7. Decision making for the North should always be done through the lens of the “Social Determinants of Health”. This should include but not be limited to considerations based on Geography as well as culturally appropriate services for First Nations and Francophone families.
Coteau stresses a stand-alone model is needed in northwestern Ontario and a communication strategy is needed between local families and the government.
The Don Valley East MPP says Minister Todd Smith has stated that there has been action, but has not actually addressed what that action is.
Coteau says the unanswered questions have left parents in a very vulnerable place when planning for the future.
To read the full report from Michael Coteau visit https://michaelcoteau.onmpp.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/06/Autism-Report.pdf
