[FEAT BC Admin]

In this topic area, discussion is about the fight to secure Government funding for your A.B.A. treatment program. It is also the place to talk about your thoughts and ideas about how to establish new Government programs specifically designed for autism treatment.

This is the place to hear input from parents who have fought for funding and won, as well as those who have fought for funding and would like to share their horror stories. There is a tendency to not share success stories once funding is secured. Please fight that tendency. By sharing our experience, we all become stronger.

 

---

—-By FEAT BC (Freeman) on Saturday, January 3, 1998 – 03:16 pm:

-Hi everyone!

These are some things to think about in your dealings with government to help you to obtain support for your child’s Autism Treatment Program. These are my personal opinions and do not represent those of FEAT of BC or any other organization.

Many of these observations are based on my personal experiences (and I believe it poetic justice to help every parent avoid being systematically abused by their social worker the way I was).

Good luck to everyone! (Let’s all pull back the curtain on the Wizard of OZ).

Sabrina

 

---

How To Fight for Funding for Autism Treatment and Appropriate School Placement

1. Establish a Paper Trail

Always take notes, documenting major points of all conversations with government and school officials.

This includes casual, in person conversations with social workers as well as ALL telephone conversations. All key points of discussion must be written down in your notes including the date and time of the discussion. This includes what was agreed upon, as well as what was not agreed upon.

Then the notes should be used to write a letter recapping the substance and content of the conversation. This letter must then be mailed or faxed to the person with whom you had the conversation. In addition, a copy must be kept in your file (see section on the icci game).

Why?

It is important to formalize the interaction between you and Government officials. In addition, everyone is put on notice that they must closely adhere to their responsibilities, regulations and laws., Furthermore, they must then consider the paper trail you have created. This lets everyone know that the interaction can become public and that any abuses of power and authority can be formally appealed and/or publicized.

In other words, they canit use discretion unfairly under the cloak of secrecy.

2. Submit all Requests in Writing

All your requests for your child must be submitted formally in writing with a copy included in your file and a copy, if necessary, sent to their immediate superiors.

3. Set Deadlines for Action

All formal requests for action must have a reasonable deadline set for that action. If no action or response is received by the deadline you have set (two weeks for example), then you will interpret the lack of response as a formal declination (a formal NO) of your requests.

Why Set Deadlines?

When bureaucrats do not want to do something, they will stall by ignoring you and your request. (As an aside, in the study of the bureaucracy, this is known as ithe power to do nothingi). They can string you along for years. When you have determined that the person you are interacting with is not inclined to help you or is not dealing in good faith, then you must take the initiative and formally label his/her behavior as obstructionist and de facto as a declination (a NO to your requests). This allows you to move to the next level of authority on your timetable to present your case. This takes the power to do nothing away from the bureaucrat with whom you are dealing. Simple stated, a bureaucrat who stalls and does nothing becomes irrelevant (use your invisible spray) and you move on to the next level of authority.

How to icci?

A cc. is a copy of your letter sent to someone other than the person you are writing. You put the cc. at the bottom left-hand corner of your letter followed by 2 spaces and the name of the person or people to whom you want to send a copy of the letter.

Who to icci to?

Sometimes it is best not to icci at all, especially in the early stages of the relationship (for example, your first letter to a social worker requesting assistance). This gives them the opportunity to do the right thing and does not present you as an overly combative person. When you start to run into problems, it is a good idea to send the icci to the 2 immediate superiors of the person you are having problems with. We do not recommend icciing all the way up the chain of command, since you want to give them a chance to solve the problem at the local level.

Why send a icci copy?

The reason for playing the icci game is that you want your interactions with the official to be known to his superior and possibly to other organizations so that 1) their action or inaction becomes a matter of record and 2) the individual knows he is being monitored. This helps minimize abuses of power and authority and helps encourage the official to meet their obligations and do the right thing.

What is the sequence of letters?

Find out the chain of command of the particular bureaucracy you are battling.

TOP

Minister
Deputy Minister
Children’s Ministry’s local region chain of command, all the way down to the District Supervisor
and Social Worker
Contacts can be found at the government directory: http://www.dir.gov.bc.ca/

BOTTOM

Start at the bottom and climb. At the Regional Operating Officer (ROO) level (once you have been declined) you have to decide whether to jump up to the top, threaten and then go to the media, or both. A word of wisdom: DO NOT BLUFF. If you are not willing to go all the way, they will ‘smell’ this. You must be prepared to take it right up to the Minister and beyond.

Documentation from Experts:

In your arsenal to fight for your child, it is wise to get his/her pediatrician and/or psychiatrist to write a letter on your childis behalf. In addition, any other experts who know your child and are sympathetic to what you are trying to do should become involved.

When to hire a lawyer?

If money is not an issue, you can hire a lawyer when you get to the area manager level. Make sure that you have a paper trail so the lawyer has something to work with. Also, have the lawyer give F.E.A.T. of B.C. a call, and we will send him/her information that will help.

If money is an issue (as it is for most of us running autism treatment programs), you might want to hire a lawyer once you have been turned down by the Minister.

How to hire a lawyer?

The type of lawyer needed is a litigator, or trial lawyer. S/he does not need to be an expert in autism, or special needs; s/he needs to be experienced in suing governments, and enjoys being in court. Word of mouth is a good way to find a lawyer.

Topic

[Lou Arab]

Avery,

Your patronizing tone is extremely off-putting. I am not sure how you determine that a) I am new to fighting for services for my children or b) that my newness is what shapes my opinions. My son was diagnosed with a visual disability at age two months, autism at age two years. We have spent his entire life fighting government, medical praticioners and insurance companies on his behalf, and we have won every single battle. My employment includes significant lobbying and pressuring of government on a variety of issues so I am well aware of what it takes to get a government to move.

So spare me the condescension. It was not and is not my intention to launch attacks on individualized funding, FEAT, Jean Lewis or yourself. My only intention was and is to clarify things and try to stop cuts to special needs programs.

I still need to respond to the crux of your comments. You are commenting on two lines out of a two page press release that was in draft form when you saw it. I am part of the group that is organizing this event, and I can tell you we have discussed this, and we are very clearly not opposed to IF. I will say it again, we are not opposed to IF.

We went over the release yesterday, made some minor changes to respond to your impression. The full release, as sent out yesterday is attached below.

Lou Arab

Militant Moms protest broken promises:
MOMS MAN THE BRIDGES TO PROTECT SERVICES FOR THE DISABLED

VANCOUVER, Oct. 23, 2001 – Angry moms will take over several city bridges during morning rush hour on October 29 to protest Premier Gordon Campbell?s plans to drastically cut services to children and adults with disabilities.

Calling themselves Militant Moms on the Move (MMOM), these normally-sedate parents are outraged that after delivering hefty tax cuts to businesses and individuals, Campbell is reneging on promises he made to protect and enhance services to BC?s most vulnerable citizens.

We've been nagging government about these issues for years now and we voted for Gord Campbell because we truly believed someone was finally listening, says parent Lori Wallace. "But now things are going from bad to worse, so we're exercising our right to strike before he declares Moms an essential service too."

The move began when an ad hoc group of concerned mothers and fathers of special needs children met earlier this month. They decided it was time for action to highlight the crisis facing many BC families who are struggling to support loved ones with disabilities. So on October 29th, these feisty moms (and dads) will leave spouses and sitters to cope with breakfast and getting the kids off to school, taking to the city?s bridges in small groups to deliver their message.

"We're telling Gordon Campbell that his behaviour is unacceptable and we expect better. He has to bridge the gap between what he promised and what he's delivering," says MMOM spokesperson Dawn Steele. "As parents, we teach our children every day about being honest and fair and responsible, and we expect nothing less from our leaders."

The action:

During morning rush hour on October 29th, small groups will gather at several city bridges* between 7:30 and 8:30 am, carrying signs with traffic-inspired slogans to convey their message to passing commuters. "Services for the disabled are not luxuries that we can sacrifice to balance budgets, they're vital lifelines, just like our bridges," Steele explains. "And service bottlenecks and delays are like traffic jams, they're a tremendous waste of human potential."

"We're not your typical radicals and most of us have never done anything like this," says Steele. "As mothers we also have to set an example, so we won't disrupt traffic or anything like that."
At around 10 am, families will gather at Gordon Campbell's Vancouver constituency office and deliver bunches of balloons symbolizing the children and adults being hurt by his government's broken promises.

2.
The issues:

Children and adults with disabilities already face a dire situation in BC, with long waitlists and inadequate services. Yet studies show that inadequate or delayed treatment and denial of supports actually cost taxpayers more in the long run because people who could become productive members of society end up permanently dependent. Campbell acknowledged these arguments in the pre-election campaign. He specifically promised to protect existing services for these individuals, and to move quickly to address service gaps. But already some of those promises are being broken by:

– Planning 35?50 % cuts across the board to Community Living Services, a move that would devastate vital supports and treatment for adults and children with special needs.
– Freezing the education budget, which will worsen the already serious shortage of funds for special education, ESL and other vital education services across the board.
– Gagging the BC Human Rights Commission just as it was preparing to file a complaint of systemic discrimination against special needs students in BC?s schools.
– Planning to drop funding targets that protect special education funds, thus allowing schools under pressure to use special education funding to balance their budgets.
– Endlessly delaying plans for court-mandated early treatment for children with Autism and appealing the court ruling that said government had a duty to provide this treatment.

?There?s a lot of talk about numbers, but this is about kids and vulnerable adults and about parents who just want a fair chance for them,? says Heather McCracken, another Vancouver parent. ?We have parents who were eagerly awaiting treatment services that the Liberals promised to provide for their toddlers. They know the science shows these kids can do really well if they receive early and intensive treatment, but now they?re being told to wait, and wait, and wait. It?s breaking their hearts because they see their kids? future going down the drain.?

-30-

[Sharon Baxter]

Congratulations on the news of progress toward the implementation of individualized funding for children with autism in BC!!!!!!!!!

I just read the posting about the cancellation of phase 2 of the EIBI program and the plan to allocate over 4 million dollars to individualized funding. I know from personal experience how hard all of you have worked. All of your work is starting to pay off and the kids will surely benefit.
"Keep up the good fight!"
Sharon Baxter

[Maureen St. Cyr]

Lou:

You are new to the game of fighting
government for the rights of our children, and
while I applaud and approve of your zeal in
doing so, you should be careful not to be
launching attacks on the wrong front.

I have read the "Militant Moms" press release
and it is clear that one of the primary purposes
of this "protest" action is to support the current
farce known as the EIBI program. You may say
this is not about "EIBI vs. Individual Funding",
but the simple fact is that this government will
not throw an enormous pile of money at
people who have no expertise in true early
intervention autism treatment, and then supply
parents with individual funding as well. I don't
think there is anyone in FEAT who will argue
about the other points the Militant Moms are
raising, and we can support them on those,
but the idea of resurrecting EIBI from its well
deserved grave is a non-starter here.

As many have pointed out again and again,
individual funding means the money travels
with the child, not with the so-called service
provider. If you want to take your child's
funding and spend it at any of the currently
supported government-sponsored regional
monopolies, that is your choice. But parents
who want proven, medically-necessary,
science-based treatment for their children
must be allowed to take their funding to EAP
or Autism Partnership or any of the other
groups who have real credentials, a real track
record, and the data to back up their results.

I wish the Militant Moms good luck on their
protest against real or potential cuts to the
other services the Ministry provides (or more
truthfully, supplies waiting lists for).
Unfortunately, I must oppose their misguided
attempt to resurrect the faulty, made-for-court,
Orwellian-named EIBI program.

Also, just to correct a couple of your
misconceptions — 1) The cancellation of EIBI
2 was not without alternative announcement.
The government has announced that money
will go into individualized funding instead. (2)
EIBI would not provide therapy for your child —
it would provide the same discredited bag of
crap which the NDP government tried to insist
was therapy, and which were discredited en
masse in court. Your child deserves real
therapy, and the "EIBI" program was as far
from that as a bicycle is from a jumbo jet.

If, despite the press release to the contrary,
you can convince the Militant Moms to remove
the EIBI protest from the package and, as you
say they want, protest instead for an
immediate implementation of Individualized
Funding for ALL children with autism,
REGARDLESS of their age, then you will
probably find FEAT members a more receptive
audience for collaboration.

[Lou Arab]

Jean Lewis wrote:

>"A group of parents of special needs children >(MMM – Militant Mothers on the Move) are >attempting to organize a protest in late October >to protest a number of government initiatives >apparently including the cancellation of the the >"EIBI" program expansion. For clarity's sake >please be aware that this protest IS NOT a FEAT >of BC initiative.

>To reiterate, FEAT of BC ENDORSES the EIBI >cancellation and the move to individualized >funding because ultimately it is the vehicle >which will best serve all children with autism >and their families.

I am active in organizing with MMOM, and I would like to clear something up. Our protest is not about EIBI vs. individualized funding (IF). It is about general cuts in services to persons with special needs, of all types and all ages including:

– Freezing the education budget, which will worsen the already serious shortage of funds for special education, ESL and other vital education services across the board.
– Gagging the BC Human Rights Commission just as it was preparing to file a complaint of systemic discrimination against special needs students in BC?s schools.
– Planning to drop funding targets that protect special education funds, thus allowing schools under pressure to use special education funds to balance their budgets.
– Planning 35 ? 50 % cuts across the board to Community Living Services, a move that would devastate vital supports and treatment for adults and children with special needs.

At the time MMOM started organizing, EIBI stage 2 had been cancelled with no alternative announced.

As for EIBI vs. IF, the government has announced a model it wishes to follow (IF) but it keeps pushing the date of implementation back!!! That alone is reason to protest. My son will be three in November and I am sick of the Liberals telling me to wait two more months for therapy!! Since the election, therapy has always been two months away, and the bar keeps getting moved. I have now been told by Minister Reid's office and by staff in MCFD that the "when" and "how much" questions won't be answered until next year, and god only knows how long after that the money will start flowing.

If you are interersted in participating in the protest, you can attend at the bridge action between 7:30 and 8:30 am on Monday, Oct. 29 at the following locations:
– Lions Gate Bridge – North end
– Oak Street Bridge – North end
– Burrard Bridge – South end

Please email me at arab7964@home.com to confirm your attendance, or to ask questions.

Lou Arab

[Mike & Jean]

EIBI Update

As many of you may already be aware the government has cancelled the second round of tenders for the "EIBI" program and are redirecting $4.7 milliom to an individualized funding program. The three already established "EIBI" sites will remain operational for the present time.

FEAT of BC applauds the government's decision to cancel further expansion of the made-for-court "EIBI" program.

FEAT of BC has always advocated for parent's right to choose their own service providers. The decision to reallocate money to individualized funding will finally allow parents real choice. It is a step in the right direction.

The Liberals still however have a ways to go on keeping their pre-election promises:

1) Moving the responsibility for autism treatment from MCFD to Health.

2) Funding autism treatment that the BC Supreme Court has found to be 'medically necessary' for as long as required.

I encourage all who want to hold the government to account on these promises to make an appointment with their local MLA to review the following:

1) The CIAT (Choices in Autism Treatment) available at https://www.featbc.org/ciat_brief.pdf and

2) The "Broken Promises" brief available at https://www.featbc.org/brokenpromises.pdf

Both of these documents were prepared by FEAT of BC. The CIAT has been reviewed with several senior government staff and the "Broken Promises" brief was sent to every MLA.

A group of parents of special needs children (MMM – Militant Mothers on the Move) are attempting to organize a protest in late October to protest a number of government initiatives apparently including the cancellation of the the "EIBI" program expansion. For clarity's sake please be aware that this protest IS NOT a FEAT of BC initiative.

To reiterate, FEAT of BC ENDORSES the EIBI cancellation and the move to individualized funding because ultimately it is the vehicle which will best serve all children with autism and their families.

Regards,

Jean Lewis
Director- FEAT of BC

[FEAT BC Admin]

The Victoria Times-Colonist ran a piece today regarding autism treatment and the government program.

Story is available on the Feat BC server:
–> https://featbc.org/downloads/timescolonist_10_21_01.pdf

[Sabrina Freeman]

To all FEAT BC Members:

Now is the time to make a real difference in the lives of children with autism!

FEAT BC has published a new brief chronicling broken promises of the new BC Liberal government (https://featbc.org/brokenpromises). It is called, *Broken Promises; The BC Liberal betrayal of children with autism*

All of us — parents, grandparents, therapists, professionals, and paraprofessionals — need to read the brief and go talk to our Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).

Every Friday, most MLA’s are in their constituency offices which are relatively near to where we live. Please, make an appointment and present this brief alongside with your impassioned argument as to why the new government of B.C. should not continue the autism policy of the former N.D.P. government … the Liberals must keep their promises!

There are 77 Liberal MLA’s. This means 99 percent of us have MLA’s who are members of the party in government.

If each of us visits our MLA, then close to every last member of the legislature will understand the following:

1) The autism treatment dispute is not going to disappear
2) The autism treatment dispute is going to grow larger and ‘stick’ to BC Liberals
3) The leftover NDP bureaucracy is sabotaging the new government
4) Supporting autism policy of the previous government is morally bankrupt — it harms our children.

Many good and decent Liberals (particularly those who are not ministers), will be outraged when they read the new FEAT BC brief. You will give them ammunition to fight for our children within their own party.

If you have any problems finding out who your MLA is, please go to:

http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/mla/37thparl/mla_alphaconstit.htm

The new FEAT BC brief is at https://featbc.org/brokenpromises

Once you have visited your MLA, please contact us so we know which MLA’s have been visited and which MLA’s still need visits Ph. (604)534-6956

Thank you … together we will make British Columbia the best place for children with autism!

Sabrina Freeman, Ph.D.
Executive Director, FEAT of BC

[Isaac]

The autism treatment dispute in the news again today …

1) CKNW's Bill Good show — http://audiovault.cknw.com/ram/d1-11.ram

2) BCTV News at six

Topic: ‘Broken Promises’

Regards,
Isaac (Miki*s Dad)

[Deleted User]

To: all families pursuing individual funding for effective treatment of autism/PDD.

Our family has been asking for funding for our sons (Patrick) treatment program (Intensive Lovaas style ABA directed by WEAP- now the Vancouver Early Autism Project) since April of this year. We started treatment in July. In the last month we received a letter from Minister Reid verifying that our son being 7 years of age doesn't "qualify" for effective treatment of any kind. As we are not about to take "no" for an answer we have turned to our MLA for help. We have recently received some very promising cooperation from our MLA on this front. Our MLA, Mr. Harold Long (Sunshine Coast), always returns our calls and has read through reams of info we passed on to him. He met with us for an hour to better understand what we were asking for as well as find out what we needed him to do to advocate for Patrick. He seemed genuinely dismayed at the current situation in the province and has promised to address the Ministers in the appropriate ministries. Our MLA's efforts would benefit from support of other like minded MLA's.
I understand that ministry services are currently under a review. As parents we should realize that there may be no better timing than now to turn to our elected representatives and ask of them to do the job we elected them to do…advocate for their constituents. If you have not asked your MLA to advocate for your child as of yet then I appeal to you take that action now. Every MLA we can get in our corner will bring us a step closer to ending the discrimination perpetrated on our children by our current government policies. These current policies must change and will if we make ourselves heard, please talk to your MLA,s. If you have your MLA on board already please ask him to talk to ours. Feel free to email me privately if you like at thujalog@home.com or call 604 487 0048.

Thank you,
Alex Barclay
Powell River, BC

[Deleted User]

With all of the talk about the government considering individualized funding, my husband and I have written several letters to our M.L.A., the Premier and Hon Linda Reid. Today I actually received several responses. I would like to urge other parents to voice their concerns, their support for and their need for individualized funding. Below is my response to the government outlining why I feel EIBI is inadequate and why individualized funding is the only solution.

To the Honourable Linda Reid;

Thank you for your response to my various emails and letters. In your email to my husband and I, you provided a link to some information about the EIBI program which I read with great interest. I found the guiding principles of the EIBI program to be very interesting and would like to point out exactly why I feel your program is greatly flawed.

Your Ministry document (http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/spec_needs/autism/update1.pdf) states that one of the guiding principles of the EIBI program is its basis in up to date scientific findings. I'm interested to learn what exactly the findings are that this program is based upon as well as the training that those providing the services have? Justice Allan states in her ruling in the recent lawsuit "The expert witnesses agree that the most effective behavioural therapies are those based on principles of ABA. tHere are no effective competing treatments." She goes on to say "It is ironic that the very limited treatment services provided by the Crown not only fail to meet the gold standard of scientific methodlology; they are positively discredited by one of the Crown's own expert witnesses."

The EIBI program does not provide ABA therefore it is not providing the most effective behavioural therapy. What it is providing is a whitewashed version of behavioural therapies. THe service providers who are apart of the program have not been trained at qualified clinics and/or Universities with appropriate qualification in ABA. Applied Behavioural Analysis is based on science and requires extensive knowledge, extensive study and extensive supervision by qualified people to be applied correctly. One cannot simply read a book and provide such therapy. What we are talking about is a retraining of a child's mind, it isn't something that should be entrusted to unqualified people.

The EIBI program service providers are the same service providers previously used by the provincial government prior to the lawsuit, the same service providers that were found to not only "fail to meet the gold standard of scientific methodology" but to be discredited by crown witnesses.

I would be interested to see the up to the minute data that the EIBI program is based upon. Show me the data. My children's ABA programs are based on scientifically proven methodologies. I would be pleased to have an opportunity to show you the scientific basis of our programs as well as the data we have collected to prove that it is effective. I would be pleased to show you what our therapy entails and the incredible progress my children have made. After only 15 months of intervention my daughter integrates with her peers and is almost indistinguishable. SHe carries on conversations, interacts with peers and adults and is academically on par or above her age level. Her struggle is not over however she is but one example of how well this therapy can work when designed by a highly skilled consultant.

I was also interested to note that the above mentioned document states "Children and their families are best-served when they receive the right supports at the right time based on their own uniqe needs." My family is not being served. I am paying the medical costs for my children's treatment. I have two children with autism ages 4 1/2 and 3. To date the government is not providing any supports for them. And while I feel that the EIBI program is inadequate, it is irrelevant considering that this program does not even cover the community I live in. We can not wait for services, the clock is ticking too fast for my little ones. The time is now, so where is this support?

In your response to my previous letters you mentioned a thought provoking meeting between MCFD and parents. I attended one of these meetings and tabled a document outlining a model of how individualized funding to parents of children with autism might like, the CIAT model. This example is based upon a Ministry of Health program called CSIL and was written by DR. Sabrina Freeman. The document can be found at https://www.featbc.org/CIAT_brief.pdf. Following such a model would simplify the move to individualized funding for your goverment, it would also save great amounts of money.

Through top-heavy administration the EIBI program appears to be a great waste of money. I've been told that to provide 20 hours a week of one-to-one treatment for a child within the program will cost this government $60,000 a year. I currently run two programs, each child receiving 30 hours a week or more of one-on-one therapy for under $40,000. It sickens me to think of how tax payer dollars are being wasted, particularly since the services being provided are far from adequate. Individualized funding would solve this issue of waste. Made accountable for their spending, parents would take great care to ensure that every last dollar went towards treating their child, not towards over-inflated administration costs.

I would also like to point out that early intervention has been proven time and time again to save tax payer dollars. Children who receive intensive behavioural therapy early in life need less assistance througout their growing years. This saves you money. Keeping in mind that autism is not magically cured at 20, untreated autistic children become expensive, institutionalized autistic adults who need one on one support to get through a simple day. My children will not. My children will be taxpayers and live full lives with little if any assitance. But only because of the therapy they receive at the cost of our family.

I strongly believe that individualized funding is the only solution to the absence of scientifically based programs for children with autism. First and foremost, the current government must rectify the situation created by the previous government. As stated by Justice Allan "In failing to make appropriate accomodation for their health care needs, the Crown has discriminated against them… Only effective treatment can reduce the marginalization of autistic children and their exclusion from the mainstream of society." THe rights of our children can not continue to be denied.

Small scale program such as EIBI do not solve this situation. Providing indequate services to 25 children in the lower mainland, 25 on Vancouver Island and 25 in kamloops is a small dip in the bucket. 1 in 500 children are on the autistic spectrum, 75 kids shortlisted for early intervention services? Hardly a solution. I've been told that services will be increased to eventually provide for every autistic child in BC. Too late for my children no doubt. Individualized funding could be implemented immediately for all children. For parents such as myself who have done the leg work, it would simply be a matter of completely paperwork and a small amount of administration. For those who need to set up programs, the supports are already greatly in place. FEAT of BC already assists parents in setting up programs for their children. By using the information we already provide to parents, much of your work would already be done for you.

Individualized funding is a viable option. Able to serve families in all areas of the province, lower in administrative costs, family centred, specific to the child's needs, individualized funding would solve many of the intrinsic problems of the EIBI program. In addition, it would allow families to seek out truly scientifically based treatments.

We started my daughter's aba program 15 months ago on a hope and a wish that the system would soon change. Your party platform provided us with hope that these changes would soon occur. Your government has the opportunity to do somethign truly great, to help children become children. I hope that my wishes will soon come true and that your government will live up to their potential and bring about the era of change these children so greatly deserve.

Thank you for your time,

Michelle Himmelright.

cc: Randy Hawes (M.L.A. for Maple Ridge – Mission)
Justin Himmelright
Tracey Morrison

[Author]

Replies