B.C. halts autism funding changes

The B.C. government is reversing course on changes to autism funding that had many raising concerns.

Premier David Eby has announced individualized funding for children diagnosed with autism will not be phased out in 2025, as was previously announced under John Horgan.

“Our focus is on ensuring children and youth have the supports they need to thrive,” said Minister of Children Mitzi Dean.

The province says stakeholders have, “Committed to engaging in deeper consultation with parents and caregivers, First Nations, Indigenous Peoples, communities, experts and practitioners, and [others] with lived experience,” before any changes are made. It adds these talks will help identify what changes are required to best support those in need.

“Every child in B.C. should have the supports they need to thrive,” Eby said Friday. “We are focused on listening to families of children and youth with support needs. We will work collaboratively with all partners to make sure our services work for every child.”

In addition to maintaining individualized funding for children with an autism diagnosis, the province says it’s committed to an “engagement process co-designed by First Nations leadership and leaders from the disability community.”

Related articles: 

• Majority of B.C. parents don’t support changes to autism care, survey finds

• B.C. to launch ‘circle of care’ for neurodiverse kids but parents have many questions

• Autism community, Vancouverites reach out after dad shares son’s birthday party heartbreak

“We agree with the province that the system has to be transformed for all children with disabilities,” said Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, secretary treasurer, Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

“This an important step forward. Having a proper evidence-based process, respecting the free, prior and informed consent of First Nations, consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and maintaining and supplementing existing funding, now allows us to move forward jointly to build a service model that will actually work.”

AutismBC Executive Director Julia Boyle says many families will be “incredibly relieved” to know they’ll be able to keep their individual funding for the time being.

“We thank the premier for listening to these families and respecting this choice. Much more work needs to be done to better serve the families and children that are left behind in the current Children and Youth with Support Needs framework. We look forward to doing this work together,” she said.

Previously, AutismBC expressed concern about the move to the hub model, citing worries over things like capacity.

But concerns extended beyond that, too.

“You’re going to cause a lot of grief and trauma to so many families, right?” AutismBC President Kaye Banez told CityNews earlier this week. “There’s not a strong support for this move to the family connection centers.”

Families with autistic children aged six to 18 currently get up to $6,000 per year for support.

Parents were not the only ones skeptical of the new model, either. An SFU survey of almost 500 autism service providers found 37 per cent of respondents were unlikely to work for a connection centre, while 42 per cent said they didn’t have enough information to make a decision.

-With files from Kier Junos