The Ol’ Bait and Switch

My family has been talking to other Starbright families about this and none of us had any inkling that the new FCC project would come at the expense of existing IDCs and CDCs. Most of those families were in support of the FCC model but not now. It doesn’t benefit us at all. We already had our services under one roof. It was already the case that we didn’t need a diagnosis. Also, for those with individualized funding, they got that, too!

The Family Connections Centres could have been a wonderful addition to the network of services for deserving youth and children. Instead, they’re a reduction. Those with individualized funding are learning that their support just got chopped in half (or worse). Instead of devoting all your funding to BC/BI (which still isn’t enough), now your funding has to stretch to include the OT/PT/SLP/etc that used to be free but now isn’t. So your child gets less BI time, whether you opt for the funding or opt for the FCC. What’s more outrageous is that ARC and MCFD keep telling us that we should be happy because we’ll benefit somehow? They’re either ignorant or lying.

This also doesn’t bode well for families that weren’t getting individualized funding. Of course it’s a good thing to get the diagnosis piece out of the way because there were many VERY deserving families that got less support just because their diagnosis didn’t qualify. That was always unfair, and no family in this community thought otherwise. Worse than unfair. Immoral. Cruel. But chopping the support of those who did happen to qualify for individualized funding is the wrong direction. Support should have been increased for those who needed it, not decreased for those who had fought so long for it.

There is no reason why the FCC rollout needed to be tied to the fate of CDCs and IDCs. FUND THEM ALL. My family has done our best for years to keep informed on policy changes that affect us like this and never once did we hear that the MCFD would fund their new FCC and nothing else. We had no clue Starbright’s existence was at stake. We would’ve written letters last year if we had known. Was this always the plan or did the MCFD change their mind? If it was always the plan, why didn’t we know? Why is so hard to get critical updates? Or was this hidden from us? It’s hard to shrug the feeling that the MCFD is intentionally keeping everyone in the dark so they can shove a decision down our throats so fast that we won’t have time to stop it. You can tell they’re not proud of themselves, at all. That’s why they’re not saying anything. They know their decision is unpopular, but do they know that it’s wrong?