MPP Amy Fee says KidsAbility layoffs a 'difficult' decision, but autism program changes needed

Kitchener South-Hespeler MPP Amy Fee says she understands KidsAbility had to make a difficult decision to layoff eight therapists and one family worker who helped families of children with autism.

But she remains steadfast in her support for changes the provincial government has made to the way the Ontario Autism Program is funded.

Now, rather than agencies like KidsAbility receiving money to offer the services, parents will be given an amount and they can make decisions on where to seek out help. That change takes effect April 1.

"Unfortunately, it's a very stressful time for obviously the staff that are affected by this and the families as well that were connected to those therapists and the social worker," Fee said in an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

She said the fee-for-service model is the best way to deliver the Ontario Autism Program "to ensure that we could get children off the waitlist and ensure that we got as many children to access therapy as quickly as possible in the province."

'Not one person's lost their jobs'

During a press conference in Cambridge on Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford was asked about frontline workers losing their jobs because of his policies.

"So far, we've made the efficiencies and not one person's lost their jobs," Ford said, focusing his answer on the healthcare industry as he pledged to end hallway healthcare.

"You know who's going to lose their jobs, unfortunately? Are the people in the LHINs [Local Health Integration Networks], the CEOs that are making hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Ford added, "I've always said we're going to protect the frontline people which we have ... Promise made. Promise kept on that."

Fee was asked about those comments, in relation to the therapists and social workers who will be laid off at KidsAbility as of April 1st.

"It's very difficult," she said. "I have spoken many times with KidsAbility as well about how challenging this was going to be for them, but we needed to look at this Ontario Autism Program and see how we could best support parents, best support children that were sitting on this waitlist."

'I will always be an advocate'

Fee says the changes to the program will see children waiting for a diagnosis get that determination more quickly and will then mean more children and their families can seek treatment.

Fee said she also understands why the changes have led to protests, including outside her own office and at Queen's Park. She is a mother of four and two of her children, a son and a daughter, have autism.

"We have a line of credit for our family. Our two children are currently enrolled in the Ontario Autism Program. It's approximately, give or take, $110,000 a year between the two of them currently in the program, so we're looking at those options," she said.

"Can we extend that line of credit? How much more of my inheritance, I guess you could say, could I get from my parents to support them now?"

Her husband works two jobs, and Fee said the reason she ran for office was so she could advocate for other parents facing the same problems.

"I will always be an advocate for children with autism in our government," she said.