ford govt Thousands of places fall short of their goal of providing core clinical services to children autism to 2022, figures obtained by Global News show.
The province set a target of enrolling 8,000 Ontario children with autism in its newly created needs-based therapy program by the fall of 2022. to hit the target.
An internal progress report dated October 31, 2022, which Global News obtained through a Freedom of Information request, shows that by mid-autumn, the province fell thousands of places short of the government’s promise.
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The report said just 3,304 children were enrolled in core clinical services by the autumn of 2022, while just 1,511 children had entered into a service funding agreement by 31 October.
The report defined an enrollment as being completed when a family accepted an invitation to core clinical services, not when children were actually seeing the benefits or funding families received.
“The numbers clearly indicate what our community had suspected,” Elina Cameron, president of the Ontario Autism Coalition, told Global News.
“At least till October 31, this whole thing has been an exercise in paper pushing. (I believe) most of those 1,500 came from old fashioned folks, families that were in the service before… that weren’t leaving anyone off the waiting list.
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The figures are a far cry from what is promised for families of children with autism at the end of 2021.
“It will provide stability for families, while enabling more children to access core clinical services,” the province said in a December 3, 2021, media release about its Ontario autism program.
“The government is on track to meet its commitment to provide funding for core clinical services to 8,000 children by 2022.”
In a statement to Global News, the Ford government argued that it had not given up on its target.
A spokesperson said, “We can confirm that we have met our target of enrolling 8,000 children and young people in core clinical services.” “Going forward, our government is focused on getting as many children and young people registered with AccessOAP as possible as soon as possible.”
He did not address a comprehensive list of questions, which included examples from past public statements and data obtained by Global News. The spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions.
The target referred to by the province was to “enroll” 8,000 children and youth in services, with no reference to a time frame.
This is contrary to previous promises made by the province. For example, a December 3, 2021, media release promised that 8,000 children would have “funding for core clinical services by 2022”.
The number of actual funding agreements as of October 31, in the midst of a decline, was only 1,511 – 19 per cent of the announced target of 8,000.
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Since the Ford government overhauled autism programs in Ontario, families face a complicated journey — one that has generally been slow.
First, a letter should be sent to eligible households to enroll in the province’s new online portal. The Portal is the gateway to autism services and without it, families cannot begin the process needed to obtain funding contracts.
As of October 31, a total of 25,517 letters were sent to households inviting them to transition to the AccessOAP registration portal. That’s a drop in the bucket of the roughly 60,000 households on Ontario’s registration list.
The list was recently removed from the government’s website, advocates with the Ontario Autism Coalition note.
Letters sent to families come with a code to enter the online system, effectively accepting the invitation. As of October 31, about 40 percent — 10,032 — of those invited to transition to the new system have accepted.
“Doug Ford’s record on autism funding is abysmal, but this is a new low,” said Monique Taylor, Ontario NDP critic for children and community services.
“Today’s revelations show that Ford and Minister Fullerton can’t even come close to their pathetic benchmark of funding just 8,000 children in 2022.”
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Once a household is in the system and registered, further steps are taken before a funding agreement is finalized to receive services.
After a child is registered for Core Services, a needs assessment interview is scheduled. During that meeting, funding levels are calculated based on several factors.
Advocates for the Ontario Autism Coalition said they have heard reports of parents being put off in the future for interviews. Then, once the need assessment is complete, the funding agreement needs to be completed and sent.
Advocates say that in some cases, errors in paperwork and other delays could push the actual payment of the funding service even further into the future.
Cameron said, “They destroyed a program without a program ready to go and left thousands of families on the edge of a cliff.”
With files from The Canadian Press
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