FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 24, 2005
Children’s mental health services are failing Ontario’s children and families
TORONTO -- Twelve years of funding cuts have created major gaps in services for some of our most vulnerable children, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said in a report released today, highlighting the problems plaguing children’s mental health services.
The report, entitled Kids Matter, reflecting the experiences of frontline workers and the families they serve, has been endorsed by Children’s Mental Health Ontario. An estimated 558,000 or 18 percent of Ontario children under age 19 have a diagnosable mental health disorder. Suicide is the second leading cause of death
among adolescents. Children in distress are waiting up to a year for mental health treatment.
“I am very proud of this report and the work our members do,” said OPSEU president Leah Casselman. “The Minister of Children and Youth Services must include this information in her review of children’s mental health services. Our frontline expertise is needed at the table to ensure we create a service system that
works.”
“Twelve years of cuts to our base funding and increased use of targeted special project funding has created major gaps in services for some of our most vulnerable children,” said social worker Deb Gordon, chair of the OPSEU Child Treatment Sector. “There is no one size fits all solution for these kids. We need to have a
real system, with the resources and the program flexibility to provide the services children need as soon as they need them.”
Children’s Mental Health Ontario’s Executive Director, Gordon Floyd, expressed strong support for OPSEU’s Kids Matter brief.
“It reflects what dedicated staff know from their experience on the front lines,” Floyd said. “This province needs to place a much higher priority on our children’s mental health, and that will require many more resources and major changes at the system-level, not just tinkering. It’s clear that people who work in the
children’s mental health system have much to contribute to its redesign.”
OPSEU represents 2,000 workers in the field of children’s mental health. A full version of the report can be downloaded here
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For more information, please contact:
Deb Gordon, Child Treatment Sector Chair: 519-332-6594
Sarah Jordison, OPSEU Communications: 416-453-8049
