Thread by @ottawa_asd_mum

1/ Today is November 19, 2019. And we are still waiting for a plan from the Ontario Government.

Advocates, parents, researchers, therapists, stakeholders have reiterated to the @fordnation government, time and again, that urgency is critical.

And here we are.

2/ going on 10 months since @MacLeodLisa flogged us with her “plan” to remedy the Ontario Autism Program we are no better off than where we were.

Throughout the summer, while @ToddSmithPC was touring the province ‘listening’, the consistent answer to our questions was that

3/ ‘The Panel’ was hard at work on their recommendations, which we saw come to fruition just shy of November. The Panel recommended Needs Based Therapy. The Panel recommended Urgent Response Services. The Panel recommended reverting back to a chronological waitlist. The Panel

4/ recommended the creation of an Implementation Panel and Clinical Sub-Committee.

And here we are.

@ToddSmithPC, your panel has recommended urgency. You have promised transparency. We’re rounding the bend headed towards the one-year mark since your predecessor uprooted our

5/ lives and deemed our kids unworthy of appropriate supports. Where is the urgency?

The Ministry has been releasing numbers, promptly (at least we can rely on that), on the 15th of each month. We have been told that there are 23,790 families waiting for service.

6/ That’s a lot of families.

Childhood Budget cheques are being sent to get funding to families while we wait for the new program to launch.

But that’s not enough @ToddSmithPC. It’s just not enough. If you’re trying, you’re not trying

7/ Hard enough. And if you say you understand, clearly, you don’t.

Here is a list of things that have been on my mind for the past few months. Humour me, and follow along.

1. Why are you not including the NEWLY diagnosed children in your waitlist numbers? Is it because it

8/ looks absolutely atrocious? Believe me, this community is never going to forget the number 23,000. Why are the 1652 kids registered since Apr 1 not included in the “waiting for service” sum? I have a calculator, so let’s just start using the actual number of kids waiting for

9/ service: 25,442. That’s a lot of kids, Todd. The waitlist appears to be growing faster than you can keep up with it.

2. @ToddSmithPC, why are families who are IN SERVICE being sent applications to apply for Childhood Budgets? This doesn’t seem right at all. These kids were

10/ promised extensions in their current Behaviour Plans until a new program is ready. Why are some kids being asked to transfer from a Needs Based Program to a meagre Childhood Budget?

3. Why is the government insisting on 2 tiers of service in Ontario? We have one cohort of

11/ Children who have won the Needs Based Therapy lottery, and another set who are being given Childhood Budgets that simply won’t last until the new program is ready, (and then of course, a bunch that are just getting screwed). This doesn’t seem equitable, @ToddSmithPC. And it

12/ surely doesn’t seem fair to Childhood Budget recipients to enter therapy and then have to be ripped out because your plan isn’t ready yet. Continuity of Care is important, Todd. If you’re going to offer therapy, it should be done right.
Budgets should be renewable, or a

13/ transitional 10K program should be introduced to ensure peace of mind, appropriate service and responsible spending of taxpayer dollars.

4. How are children being selected for Budgets? Your panel recommended a chronological waitlist. Why are we still moving forward with the

14/ algorithm selection? If you were in line for 4 years for a sandwich, @ToddSmithPC, and when you reached the front of the line, the window closed, and reopened only to select people at random, admit it, you’d be pissed. Trust me, there are thousands of families with

15/ Kids between the ages of 7 and 17 that want their damn sandwich.

5. If Childhood Budgets are being sent out in spades, why are the numbers moving upwards so slowly? Is anyone ensuring that families are receiving letters? Following up? Offering assistance in completing

16/ forms to an incredibly confusing program that is continuously changing? What is being done to ensure that families can access these crucial funds? Is anyone mandated to call and check in? If there are errors in applications, does anyone follow up? Families are given 90 days

17/ to apply for their Budgets. Is the Ministry simply waiting for that time to expire? Has anyone bothered to look into why? I bet some of the marginalized families in our community might have some answers for you.

6. Getting a Cheque in the mail doesn’t mean a child is

18/ “In Service”. Waitlists exist in the private sector. There’s no guarantee that therapy can even be accessed. So of the 11,499 kids “In Service”—how many really are? Or does that even matter?

7. Where is the Implementation Committee, @ToddSmithPC? Any news? Are you

19/ Getting anywhere? Christmas is coming... we’d love to know that this ship at least has someone steering it before you guys pack it in for the holidays. Surely the concept of an implementation committee wasn’t a surprise.

20/ How are you feeling about your timeline @ToddSmithPC? I’m nervous. Are you nervous? The Panel recommendations seemed pretty ambitious. Will you have enough time to bang this out? Or will we be looking at @MacLeodLisa-style implementation with a promise

21/ of April 1, and a roll-out sometime in July? Inquiring Minds need to know.

That’s about it for now. But we’ll remind you again, that while you’re hiding from the cameras, we’re waiting, and our lives are on hold.

22/ Here’s a brief list of the simple things that are impacted while we wait for your policy:

Financial Decisions & Credit
Bill Payments
School Placements
Housing/Homelessness
Personal Safety
Marriages & Family Relationships
Mental Health
Private Therapy Plans

23/
Education & Learning
Developmental Progress
Independence
Happiness
Lifespan
The Future

We’re talking about our lives, @ToddSmithPC. Education & Health Care for our kids. Give us something to go on. If you’re going to be transparent, be transparent. If you’re going to be

24/ concerned. Be concerned. If you recognize the challenge, then act. If that $600M is there, use it. We know it only costs at most $321M to extend those contracts. Based on the 2,274 reported children with Budgets, you’ve added $45,480 at most.

To the families facing

25/ crisis, pulling their kids from school, institutionalizing, losing homes, in physical danger, on the brink of breaking— sitting on $233M in fiscal 2019 doesn’t feel good. Or right.

We are begging.
Literally begging.
We have waiting years.
Literally years.
#TickTockTodd

26/ To our friends in the @OntarioNDP, @OntLiberal, @OntarioGreens and Independents, our community is in crisis. We need the @fordnation held accountable & held to task. We are listening, we are watching. We are desperate for representation. We need to the Ontario Autism Program

27/ to scream within the walls of Legislature. Our children need to be heard.

#autismdoesntendatFord #TickTockTodd #TheTimeIsNow @AndreaHorwath @JohnFraserOS @MikeSchreiner @randyhillier @ASimardL @JoelHardenONDP @MTaylorNDP @maritstiles @TarasNatyshak @jamiewestndp @LGretzky

@CFifeKW @Wayne_Gates @FaisalHassanNDP @beyrima @coteau @Kathleen_Wynne @DolyBegum @GurratanSingh @NickelBelt @ChrisGloverMPP @kernaghant @MitzieHunter @M_Mantha @jennkfrench @SaraSinghMPP @KevinYardeNDP @mppPaulMiller @RakocevicT @shaw_sandy @solmamakwa @IanArthurMPP

@LauraMaeLindo @PeggySattlerNDP @TArmstrongNDP @BourgouinGuy @JeffBurch_ @BhutilaKarpoche @JennieStevens_ @Judith_NDP @john_vanthof @BissonGilles @Peter_Tabuns @SuzeMorrison @JessicaBellTO @PercyHatfield @AmyFeePC @JillDunlop1 @ToddSmithPC @JR_Ottawa @fordnation #onpoli

Editing to add a few zeros. **$45,480,000.