this is upsetting

[mattblakk]

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/03/21/967550-sun.html

Comments

[noahboyz.livejournal.com]

ugh. it makes me sick to my stomach.

[feygele.livejournal.com]

That's messed up. I've never heard of that happening in Canada; and as you know, I worked in the field for 6 years. I'm going to have to research that case a bit more, see what I can find because (a) a 2 year wait is unheard of, especially in London, (b) being in the govt's custody really shouldn't make a difference in wiat times and (c) being told that giving the govt permanent custody is the only way to keep thus sevices is obviously messed up and totally unheard of.

[jawnbc]

thank Mike Harris and his nonsensical revolution.

[feygele.livejournal.com]

While I'm no fan of mike Harris, I really don't think he's budget cuts and other "reforms" wouldhave changed the system so greatly that one needs to be a ward of the government to get services.

[jawnbc]

But he did. He made it that one needed to either wholly dependent, or self-financing. And he gutted the adminstrative system that processed entitlements. In effect he privatized access to care and support--either yield your agency or fend for yourself. Gordo Campbell's done a similar thing in BC. Whats Charest done au Québec?

[feygele.livejournal.com]

I'm actually more familiar with Gordo than Jean. (I worked in social services in the Lower Mainland before quitting, moving to Montreal, and returning to school last summer. So I haven't gotten involved in the system out here.)

tiem for a lil' civil society involment folks!

[tyresias.livejournal.com]

Mike's "common sense" revolution might have caused this but Dalton and the Grits have clearly done *nothing* to change it. I'm assuming that services for kids with Autism and other such conditions would fall under the Health Minister's portfolio no?
I may have to give Honourary Georgie a lil' call. That jerk thinks SRS coverage under OHIP is the only cause I give a damn about. He's about to get another earful from me. This is simply ridiculous and apalling. I would recommend anyone in Ontario drops Smitherman a lil' note about how they feel about this either in person (I know his office location outside Queen's Park) or by e-mail. I have the contact for that as well. :)

[chubbyfemme.livejournal.com]

wow that shocked me that it was in Ontario....

[cani-dragonfly.livejournal.com]

This is very disturbing.

[rexlezard.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not to assume, but I've noticed that attitude from a lot of Americans...Canadians tend to be a little more trusting of the gov't, though I feel like that's starting to change.

[rexlezard.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing about the Grignards, it was big news in Guelph for a while.

Sadly, that does kind of seem to be the way it works in Ontario. I've seen parents of kids with disabilities who were forced to put their kids into care, albeit temporarily, in order get the support they needed. The issue with CAS is that it seems that once you've been in care for a certain amount of time, you either need to be put back with your family or moved into care permanently. I've never heard of parents being forced to permanently relinquish custody in order to give their kids access to support, but I've known lots of young adults with disabilities who had to live in group homes or otherwise supported living arrangements - they couldn't live with their parents and get a home-worker for a few hours a day, because the gov't wouldn't pay for it and their families couldn't afford it.

Parents of kids with disabilities who want the right services for their kids have to either have deep pockets or good insurance; few agencies are able to provide services to kids with custodial parents. Once the kids are in care, the government's deep pockets are much more accessible to the parents.

It's a horrible system in lots of ways.

[thefluke.livejournal.com]

It's very upsetting, and it's wrong. The state should never force a parent to make such a choice.

history repeating itself in a new way

[luckykid13.livejournal.com]

THe Children's aid society was founded over a hundred years ago. What it would do is take immigrant children from the slums of NY whose parents were either dirt poor , alcoholics or single fathers (and sometimes mothers) and put them on trains to other parts of America- usually rural parts and platform them in front of these farm families who would then either bid or voluntarily take the kids into their home to raise them. THe catch was that many of these children were torn from their families without consent and/or became laborers in their new "family". It was rare that the children adopted out of the CAS were treated as the families biological children were. THere were some good stories to come out of the CAS, but overall, there are many painful histories of torn families and missing siblings, etc from that era.

While this situation is a bit different, CAS is imposing abandonment of the children as a way of trying to give them a "better" life instead of supporting the family unit as a whole, which , when possible, is always the best solution...After over a hundred years, you'd think we'd learn something....

has it gotten better?

[abt37.livejournal.com]

My older child recently spent some time at a Psych hospital in part due to thretening to kill the rest of the family. He is much better since his return, and the new meds, but there are still moments when I wonder.

I choose to just put that out of my mind, and not let fear overwealm our lives.

I hope your situation has gotten better.

I still don't have words for the exact feelings I have about that incident. My love for my child hasn't changed, and yet there are moments when I wonder if I have any real understanding of who he is.

[whiskerfish.livejournal.com]

terrible shame

[creepingivy.livejournal.com]

I suppose I have mixed feelings on the whole subject. My family went through something somewhat similar with a sibling of mine who had a form of extremely high functioning autism but was extremely violent and a danger to pretty much everyone for a period of years. It never came to the point of the people in the article but I understand to a certain degree just how maddening and horrible social aid systems are in the US and how some people may feel they have no other option.

It's a tough call, I think, especially if you've lived in a situation like this.

[dhydra.livejournal.com]

This happens in the US all the time. Most states do not have what Connecticut calls a "voluntary path" that allows parents secure the extensive services many autistic and mentally ill kids sometime need. Insurance only goes so far; it won't provide extended care beyond hospitalization. I know; I've been there. But in CT, I didn't have to give up my parental rights to get my kid the level of care we needed three years ago when he was really, really sick.

And only three states require parity for mental illness by law. All other states? You can be refused any coverage for care related to mental illness. I'm not sure about autism.

I know I'm muddying the waters by talking autism and mental illness in the same breath, but half of the autistic population also suffers serious mood disorders AND both childhood populations are likely to fall through the same cracks.

Time magazine had an article about this situation two or three years ago. It focused on mental illness and surrendering parental rights rather than autism. I'll try to find a copy of it and send it to you, if you like.

[doublestuff32.livejournal.com]

during my son's hospitalization for bipolar disorder, I sat in the hospital cafeteria many times, talking with other parents of children in the program. one mother has been forced to surrender her parental rights to CPS...TWICE. her son's bipolar disorder is so severe that he has been hospitalized ten times in the past four years, often for several weeks at a time. she has no resources left, and must 'give him up' in order to get what he needs. it's crushing, but it also seems dangerous...couldn't the plan backfire on a parent, so that he/she is not allowed to regain custody??

[im-a-shark.livejournal.com]

Oh how terrible! That just made my blood run cold.

[thingie.livejournal.com]

wow, I guess not everything in Canada is better.