Several Ontario families are concerned that young adults with developmental disabilities in crisis are at risk of ending up in jail or on the street because there is no place that will care for them, says Ontario Ombudsman André Marin.
The office is launching an investigation into the province’s services.
Marin says that complaints about the Ministry of Community and Social Services have increased from 35 in 2010 to 45 in 2011, and to 64 in 2012.
"We have heard heart-wrenching stories from aging or ill parents whose adult sons and daughters are a danger to themselves and others and need constant care that can't be provided at home - but they have nowhere to turn," Marin said.
"Some of these caregivers are on the brink of emotional and physical breakdown. We have investigated past cases where people with these severe disabilities have been sent to shelters and even jail. What is particularly troubling is that our complaints have only gone up, despite new legislation and changes made by the Ministry in recent years."
The parents of children with severe special needs expressed the following concerns:
- Services for their children disappeared when they turned 18
- A lack of funding and planning of services
- Lengthy delays in service delivery
- Poor co-ordination of care by approximately 300 agencies under contract to the ministry
- some children are refused care because they need a high needs level or have challenging behavior
Laurie Larson, the President of the Canadian Association of Community living and parent of two adults with disabilities, recently spoke out on the crisis situation.
“Governments have failed to adequately respond to this crisis and have placed the responsibility of caring for adults with intellectual disabilities squarely on the shoulders of the families to an extent far beyond what can reasonably be expected,” said Larson. “We need to strike a new social contract with families; lives hang in the balance. Effectively, the love that families feel for their sons and daughters is being exploited.”
“To cut expenditures, governments rely on us to continue to provide support as long as we possibly can,” Larson said. “Supports and services are chronically underfunded, and what funding is provided often goes into an outdated model of support. Governments, communities and society as a whole have failed, for the most part, to embrace innovation and current knowledge of how best to enable individuals to live inclusive lives with real options and choices.”
Earlier this year, Community Living Ontario (CLO) predicted that a lack of government funding and changes in government support means that more families will abandon their children. CLO says that part the reason the system is in crisis is the result of a change to the Special Services at Home (SSAH) so that children with disabilities no longer have access to funding of $10,000 a year when they turn 18.
The Ombudsman's office is asking anyone who has information relevant to the investigation to contact them at 1-800-263-1830, file an online complaint form on their website or send an email. The investigation will take six months to complete.
