November 6, 2024
Gélinas: Doug Ford’s priorities have horrible consequences
QUEEN’S PARK – France Gélinas, MPP for Nickel Belt, rose in the legislature this morning to share the challenges her constituents are facing when accessing supports for children with complex high needs.
“Speaker, a constituent of mine has been in crisis for 5 long years. She is a mom who had to quit her job and is burnt right out trying to care 24/7 for her complex high needs 8 years old daughter. Last week after exhausting every avenue possible she gave guardianship of her daughter to the Children’s Aid. Her family can no longer afford to properly care for her needs. First the Children Aids put her daughter in a hotel room and now she has been moved 5 hours away from her family at a foster facility in Mississauga. All of this should and could have been prevented.
In March I held a press conference in the living room of Tina Senior. Tina had to quit her job as Registered Nurse at Health Sciences North to care for her complex medical needs son Alex. Before the Ford government came to power, children with high level of needs received help from community-based children’s agencies. Kids received the care and support they needed to achieve their full potential. Now under this government parents have to quit their job, spend money they don’t have and go into debt to access private for-profit services.
This is not right, this in not my Ontario. These kids, these families need and deserve care in Northern Ontario, in Sudbury. It is very sad to see the damages done by this government to our public not for profit care system and the horrible consequences it has on high level special needs children and their family.”
The CBC, the Star and Soo Today have all reported that an increasing number of Ontario parents are surrendering their children to the province because they cannot find the services and support they need to keep them safe at home.