Just in time for Christmas, Minister of Children and Family Development Gordon Hogg has had his minions warn dozens of social service agencies that they can love Scrooge or go out of business.
Hogg is responsible not only for the protection of children, but also for the care of adults with developmental difficulties. His ministry has budgeted $577 million to provide services to 9,143 adults in the Community Living Services Program (CLS). In the words of the Ministry, "Most of the ministry's high needs CLS clients have both developmental difficulties and complex health and behavioural issues such as autism, mental illness, FASD, severe aggression or lack of impulse control. Some are a danger to themselves and others."

Budget cuts could pose a danger to those very vulnerable adults. A letter from his Deputy Minister to the agencies advised that another $35 million had to be cut from their budgets, threatening that if they couldn't achieve that, there would be "Additional pursuit of re-tendering strategies to obtain lower cost providers or to reduce the number of service providers."

The $35 million represents just a portion of the budget cuts to Community Living services. The Ministry's own central and regional operations, including front line social workers who monitor the safety and well being of these adults, were cut significantly in the fall. This followed two years of staff reductions already achieved through early retirement incentives. Many more of the agencies serving adults had already absorbed two earlier rounds of budget cuts in 2003 before the latest onslaught.

In order to "help" agencies make cuts to the Community Living services, Hogg has lowered standards as outlined in a "resource kit" posted to his Ministry's website (http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/transformation/pdf/resource_kit_nov24.pdf). The introduction to the kit says that "The ministry has identified a series of key initiatives to achieve the sustainability of community living services and its 2004/05 budget." That is bureaucrat speak meaning the ministry has told them what to cut.

The nature of the challenges faced by adults in Community Living raise health and safety concerns for themselves and others. A caring society must respect their right to live with basic dignity and well being - factors that have lost relevance under the new policy. The policy outlined in the kit limits funding to all but the most severe cases. It states:

"The risks (consequences) of not providing a service to an individual and their
family must be significant. They include the following:

• circumstances that may result in a person being a danger to self or others;
• circumstances that may result in potential adult guardianship concerns;
• requirements of a monitoring body e.g., licensing or WCB;
• children-In-care turning 19 where there is no possibility of family involvement;
• circumstances where the capacity of the family to continue to support an
  individual is severely limited." (emphasis added)

The Ministry's basic approach is to cut costs by offloading developmentally disadvantaged adults on to family members who may be able to catch them, and when they are not available, into low-cost adult foster care arrangements. Aging parents often suffer agony over what will happen, once they are gone, to their 50 year old son or daughter. The existing Community Living system of care, though not perfect, offers a range of options to meet varying needs through group homes, private care, family care, day programs and one-to-one supports. Under funding has meant that it has taken many families years to establish their loved ones in a stable and satisfying arrangement. The Campbell government is now tearing all that down, dashing dreams that loved ones will be safe when their families pass on, and pressuring aging parents to assume responsibility for these often challenging individuals.

A new section on the Ministry's website claims to provide examples showing that the cuts are supported by "evidence-based practices". Nothing on his new website supports any of the cuts in any part of his Ministry, let alone those to Community. Maybe that is why the Ministry is intimidating agencies by forcing them to sign a letter of support for the cuts! Agencies have been told that failure to sign could result in their contracts being re-tendered. At a meeting Monday (Dec 8), agencies were asked to sign a form letter drafted by Hogg's people, addressed to the Assistant Deputy Minister for Community Living Services, which begins:

"As a service provider contracted to support individuals and families, we support the proposal to the Ministry of Children and Family Development presented by the budget reference group on December 2nd [the "Proposal"] and jointly agreed between the Minister, the Executive of the Ministry, the Interim Authority and the budget reference group on December 5th [the "Agreement"]. "

"With this letter we reaffirm our commitment to the Proposal and our commitment to the Agreement and further to work with the Ministry to accomplish the strategic shifts through the various service transformation initiatives including those tied to budget objectives and initiatives within the parameters of the Proposal."

The Campbell government is not only cutting services to the most vulnerable members of our society, but they are squashing advocates and demanding that they sign what amounts to loyalty oaths.