As residents of Ontario, we have the right to expect that our taxes are being used for the benefit of all. Yet parents of a severely handicapped child who are financially unable to provide the necessary around-the-clock care for the child, risk having to forfeit the custody of that child to the Childrens Aid Society in order to secure the needed care. This is unconscionable! But, in addition to the inhumanity inherent in this situation, there are serious administrative questions. Why is an essentially medical matter being administered by the child protection division of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services Further, why has the Special Services at Home (SSAH) program—which has been the vehicle for providing assistance (maximum $10 000/year) to both children and adults who are disabled—received no funding since 2006 Applicants are now told that the program has been “capped”. There are 17 000 persons on a “waiting list” of which 480 are infants! This petition demands that the government of Ontario remove the “cap” on the SSAH program, and immediately implement the recommendations of Ontario’s Ombudsman that “the government re-legislate the power to make special needs agreements so that they are mandatory and administered outside of child protection matters.”

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