Parents cheer new services for kids
York, Simcoe get $10.5 million annually
Disabled children will have access to local treatment
by TESS KALINOWSKI, EDUCATION REPORTER, Toronto Star, December 14, 2004

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A protest turned to celebration yesterday as parents learned of plans to provide more services for disabled children in York Region and Simcoe County.

Protesters gathered at a Richmond Hill hotel put down their placards and whooped for joy as Thornhill MPP Mario Racco told them they will finally get therapy and counselling in their own communities rather than having to travel to Toronto for services.

He made the statement while Children's Services Minister Marie Bountrogianni was in Orillia announcing $10.5 million in annual funding for York and Simcoe children's services to be phased in by 2007.

Racco said some services will be available in York and Simcoe as soon as next year.

The treatment network will operate out of 10 existing children's agencies. It will put physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, counselling, recreational support and respite care inside the children's communities.

There are more than 1.3 million people in rapidly growing York and Simcoe, including about 23,000 special-needs children.

About 6,000 of those are considered severely disabled, said Deb Thomas, a volunteer with the York District Health Council and co-chair of the Simcoe County and York Region Children's Rehabilitation Services System Implementation Planning Steering Committee, which submitted a proposal for the treatment network to the government in 2002.

The new network will manage their needs as well as those of children with less severe physical, emotional and mental needs.

Putting facilities closer to their doorstep is critical for parents like Anne Harrison, who is already burdened with the round-the-clock care of her son Scott, 12.

He has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.

The victim of a brain hemorrhage at 10 weeks, Scott is a bright, social boy, but only speaks about 50 words.

He attends Armitage Village Public School in Newmarket full-time but his mother worries he must miss a full day of school several times a month when they travel from their north Aurora home to appointments at the Bloorview MacMillan Children's Centre in Toronto.

"People don't realize the travel that's involved, the appointments that are involved" in having a disabled child, said Harrison.

"Until today there's been a black hole in the province of Ontario," said Thomas.

For a long time, "parents suffered in silence not realizing how many parents were in the same boat - not realizing that other areas had treatment centres," she said.

"Imagine when you need advice there is no one in arm's reach," Franca Malfara told the parents and MPPs gathered in Richmond Hill.

At six months, her son David, now 10, suffered a stroke. His mother said it was a "tragedy that would have toppled a tall man."

As a result, Malfara's daughter Jessica, 11, "deals with the emotions of having to grow up too quickly," she said.

The little girl spent too much time with babysitters and was shortchanged on affection because her mother's hands were always busy caring for a disabled baby, said Malfara.