WELLINGTON COUNTY – Community Living Guelph Wellington received a bit of a reprieve from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services and intends to restart its day programs and EmployMEnt Options at the end of January.
Executive director Cindy Kinnon said in an interview the ministry “has made a commitment to balance us to year-end.”
That means day programs put on hold in December can resume.
But year-end for the ministry is end of March, so Kinnon could not promise day programs would continue beyond two months.
“We recognize this is hard on families and the people we support,” she said.
“It’s been hard on everyone. But this is a sector-wide issue. We continue to work with the ministry to identify our challenges and figure out how to support our services.”
The agency notified families last fall that it had a $3-million deficit and, as a result, would have to cancel all day programs and lay off staff.
Kinnon said officials worked with the union and followed the collective agreement.
She said no staff lost their jobs, but they did shift workers into the residential program, which is still running.
“That started the bumping process,” she said. “So no one lost their job, but they might have a new location and new hours.”
Re-starting the day programs is “good news,” she said.
But not all families are enamoured with the idea.
“If they’re only open until March, why do it at all?” asked Victoria Waltham-Kingsley, whose son Greg Blagdon has attended the day program in Harriston for 20 years.
When day programs ceased in December, Waltham-Kingsley enrolled Greg at Supported Choices, a private day program for people with developmental disabilities in Hanover.
It costs $118 a day but includes outings like bowling and swimming that participants can enjoy together.
Greg goes three days a week.
“They do everything together – go to the beach, bowling, tobogganing. And Greg loves it. These are his friends,” Waltham-Kingsley said.
“With the ministry and Community Living, doing things as a group had become taboo.”
While the private day program will “eat up all my money,” Greg needs to be out of the house spending time with his peers – that’s where he thrives, his mother said.
She’d love to see the Community Living day programs resume but questions the wisdom of getting them going if they’re going to be cancelled again after year-end.
“Staff has been moved, they’ve been bumped and now they’re bumping back,” she said. “If that’s all they can do for us, just leave it alone.
“Workers are confused; people they support will be more confused. I find this such a money-grabbing moment.”
Kinnon acknowledged it is about money. Community Living does not receive enough funding from the ministry to keep all its programs going, she said.
As the province is in the midst of pre-budget consultations, Kinnon is advocating for increased budgets for all Community Living organizations across the province.
“The ministry has been supportive but it’s difficult to make predictions on funding in the future,” she said.
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
