WATERLOO – Children struggling with
disabilities will be the victims of staff layoffs at a
children’s treatment centre serving Waterloo Region, the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.
KidsAbility will issue layoff notices to
eight staff today. Therapy Aides, Communicative
Disorders Assistants, and Psychometrists will lose their
jobs. This will cut services and increase wait times for
children with cerebral palsy, autism, speech
difficulties, motor skill problems, and other
developmental delays.
I really don’t know what will happen to
those kids,” says psychometrist Wilma Veenhof, who loses
her job July 31. “From my perspective, the ones who will
be hardest hit are the children awaiting a diagnosis of
autism. Children with autism can only access funding for
recommended Intensive Behavioural Intervention therapy
once they have a diagnosis.”
The cuts, which will wipe out the
Psychology Department at KidsAbility, mean that a
three-year wait list for psychological assessments can
only get worse, said Veenhof.
The cuts come just weeks after the
McGuinty government’s budget froze funding for
children’s treatment for the current year.
“The cuts at KidsAbility are a slap in
the face to children with disabilities who are crying
out for our help,” said OPSEU staff representative Neil
Fraser. “We said two months ago that the funding freeze
would be paid for with layoffs and service cuts to
children, and now it’s happening.
“We are calling on the Minister of
Children and Youth Services to step up to the plate and
deliver stable, adequate funding to these services and
these kids.”
Print this page