[news] MCFD eliminates special needs child care subsidy

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From: latinsol <latinsol at shaw.ca>
To: apc-discuss at lists.resist.ca, apc-ctte at lists.resist.ca
Subject: [APC-Discuss] MCFD eliminates special needs child care subsidy
Date: 25 Jul 2003 00:39:21 -0700

 MCFD eliminates special needs child care subsidy


NEWS: More cuts, more red tape for children with special needs

The Ministry for Children and Family Development (MCFD) has quietly eliminated a subsidy program that helped parents of children with special needs to cover the costs of child care, including pre-school and after-school programs. Instead, the Ministry of Human Rersources will in future provide such subsidies only for low-income families.

In a June 3, 2003 letter, families were advised that administration of the two subsidy programs was being transfered to a different ministry. One program provides a monthly subsidy of $107 to help offset the costs of care, including pre-school and after-school programs, for children with special needs. The second provides additional child care subsidies for low-income families. The carefully-worded letter to families gave the impression there would be no change in eligibility for either program. "Importantly, the transfer of your Child Care Subsidy file will in no way affect your current authorization for Child Care Subsidy or the $107 Support Payment," the letter stated in bold letters.

The letter went on to note that the MCFD's $107 special needs payment would be replaced by a similar program introduced by the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services (MCAWS) in conjunction with the Ministry of Human Resources (MHR).

However, families now trying to navigate through the three government bureaucracies to locate their files and renew the subsidies are discovering that most will no longer be eligible for them. This is the second time in two years that the provincial government has restricted eligibility for these subsidy programs for children with special needs.

Prior to April 2002, all designated children with special needs qualified for the $107 special needs subsidy to offset the cost of child care, including pre-school and after-school programs. In addition, many working middle- and lower-income families of children with special needs qualified for an additional subsidy, the exact amount of which was based on a formula that took into account family size and income.

In April 2002, the province lowered the income thresholds for eligibility, so most families became ineligible for the additional income-tested subsidy. However, the basic $107 special needs subsidy remained, regardless of family income. 

For example, before April 2002, a working two-parent family with one child and a monthly income of $2,000 would have been eligible for the $107 special needs subsidy, plus an additional income-tested subsidy that would have more than doubled the amount available. After April 2002, the same family would have received only $107 per month. 

With this latest change now, the same family would also become ineligible for the basic $107 monthly special needs supplement and would therefore have to pay the full cost of child care, pre-school or after-school programs for their child with special needs.

The cuts will apply immediately to new applicants, although families currently receiving the subsidies will be given several months' grace before the reduction takes effect, front-line ministry staff said yesterday.

This latest cut comes just after MCFD Minister Gordon Hogg reaffirmed his earlier commitment to protect services for children with special needs, following the recent outcry over the impact of his proposed 23% cuts to Child & Family services. 

In both cases, the reductions and changes to the subsidy programs were imposed without any discussion of their benefits, or of the implications for families and children of restricting eligibility and transferring the administration to yet another ministry. 

Two years ago, families complained that access to special needs services and programs was fragmented across three ministries -- health, education and MCFD -- as well as local health and education bureaucracies. This fragmentation frustrates efforts to provide integrated programming that effectively and efficiently addresses individual children's needs, instead promoting piecemeal services that are shaped more by individual bureacucratic budgets and priorities than by actual children's needs. 

Now, MCFD's special needs services are being further split among two other ministries [MHR and MCAWS], an extra junior minister (Linda Reid), and the four new bureaucracies that will replace the ministry under its current restructuring plans!  

Dawn Steele
Parent, Vancouver
July 22, 2003  
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