A Sudbury-area mother, unable to care for her sick child, gave her daughter to Children’s Aid this month.
Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas said it was an example of how children with special needs are not getting the level of health care they need.
Gélinas spoke in the Ontario Legislature on Nov. 6 to describe the plight of the Northern Ontario family, wherein the mother was not able to afford proper home health care for her eight-year-old daughter and decided to give up the child to Children's Aid.
"A constituent of mine has been in crisis for five 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, eight-year-old daughter," Gélinas told the legislature.
"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’s Aid put her daughter in a hotel room and now she has been moved five hours away from her family at a foster facility in Mississauga. All of this should and could have been prevented," the Legislature was told.
Gélinas said the story was similar to another case in Val Caron at the home of Tina Senior, a mother with a child with special needs who was frustrated at being unable to get proper care for her son.
"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," she said.
"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," said Gélinas.
She said it was sad and wrong to see what is happening to some families.
"This is not right, this is 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 families," said Gélinas.
She added that the story is not an isolated case and quoted media reports that said increasing numbers 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.
