TORONTO — The Ontario Autism Coalition says families are having a difficult time accessing consistent, reliable and transparent information about services and it doesn’t help that the minister in charge has “ghosted” them.
The provincial government has been trying to enroll children with autism in a new program since the summer and was unable to reach its target of providing funding to 8,000 families by the end of the fall, though it won’t say by how much.
The autism coalition says families are out of the loop about the program and the government needs to better communicate how families can access “scarce services” and how many kids are receiving service.
Kate Logue, the coalition’s vice-president of community outreach, says it would help if Merrilee Fullerton, the minister of children, community and social services, would meet with them and hold a press conference to publicly discuss the rollout of the program.
Responding to the NDP in question period, Fullerton said her ministry has been reaching out to families through emails, phone calls and letters about registering in what she calls a world-leading program.
Logue says government representatives have been asking the coalition why there is a low uptake of families to the program and she says it’s due to disorganized ministry communications with the families, not disinterest in the program.
