BC Community Living Action Group
BC GOVERNMENT REVIEWS OF CLBC
Recently released (and unreleased) reports:
- MSD CLBC Report: Improving Services to People with Developmental Disabilities: Deputy Minister’s Review of Community Living BC (Publicly Released: January 19, 2012)
- MFIN: Internal Audit Review of Community Living British Columbia (Publicly Released: January 19, 2012)
- Queenswood Consulting Group: Review of Community Living BC: Efficacy and Progress to 2011 (Unreleased Report: November, 2011)
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BC-CLAG: 2011 YEAR IN REVIEW
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
As the end of 2011 draws near, it’s an appropriate time to reflect on our accomplishments over the past year:
- The crisis in BC’s community living sector has become one of the most high profile social issues in our province
- Negative publicity concerning the provincial government and CLBC’s failure to respond to the crisis has resulted in:
– the appointment of a new Minister of Social Development
- a Deputy Minister working group examining how individuals with developmental disabilities are being supported by government ministries
– changes in senior management at CLBC
– an internal audit of CLBC operations and finances
– an announcement of $8.9 million in funding to address the most urgent health and safety cases
– an interim report released by CLBC, including an admission that the Crown agency had “lost sight of its core values”
– recent reports that CLBC is responding to some of the most urgent family situations–particularly those featured in the media.
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Core values lost, CLBC Board admits: time to listen to stakeholders
For immediate release: November 18, 2011
In an interim report released today, the Board of Community Living BC (CLBC) reiterated that the organization has “lost sight of its core values,” yet offers few concrete solutions to fix the systemic problems and lack of supports and services for adults with developmental disabilities and their families.
“The interim report released today validates what B.C. Community Living Action Group partners have been saying for months: CLBC has lost its way. The Minister also says that adults with disabilities should be returned to the centre of decision-making, which is encouraging,” says BC-CLAG partner Faith Bodnar. “So now is the time for community living partners to be fully heard. The government must implement the sector’s unanimous recommendations to properly address the crisis in community living.”
Read the full release
Read the Backgrounder
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Public inquiry needed to look into Community Living BC
Editorial by Michael Prince, on behalf of the BC-CLAG
Special to the Vancouver Sun, November 2, 2011
In recent weeks, British Columbia’s Crown agency responsible for delivering services to adults with developmental disabilities and their families has devolved into an undeniable state of crisis.
The crisis now rocking Community Living BC is beyond damage control. It was initially powered by repeated denials at administrative and political levels regarding the reality of program cuts, group home closures and out-of-control wait-lists. More recently, questionable financial and administrative practices at CLBC have surfaced. There are also disturbing allegations of conflict of interest, and even abuse faced by individuals in care. Meanwhile, the home sharing arrangements pushed by CLBC due to their cost effectiveness desperately require regulation and standards of practice given the total lack of oversight for this type of care.
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Minister’s client support team another hastily-conceived stop-gap that won’t address serious, systemic community living issues
For immediate release: October 21, 2011
The BC Community Living Action Group has rejected the latest proposed solution to the crisis in BC’s community living sector as another hastily-conceived stop-gap that ignores the serious challenges in community living.
Minister Stephanie Cadieux today announced the creation of a client support team, and asked families and individuals to contact CLBC to contact members of the client support team, which has not yet been created. The email address and phone number provided will direct callers to the general CLBC switchboard and mailbox.
“It is disappointing that almost everyone but Premier Christy Clark and Minister Stephanie Cadieux now understand that this is not going away and not going to be resolved without a full transparent and independent review,” said Jane Dyson of the BC Coalition of People with Disabilities.
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BC government wasted $1,000/day as CLBC refused to approve group home placement
October 21, 2011: This story that led news headlines for weeks illustrated the systemic failure prompting growing calls for Premier Christy Clark to order an external review of CLBC and a moratorium on cuts and group home closures in BC:
For over five months, the BC government was spending $1,000 a day to keep a Vancouver man heavily sedated in an acute care hospital bed, after his home share placement broke down in crisis. CLBC refused to approve the group home placement he needed, rejecting an offer from a BC CLAG partner agency to provide a group home placement with the 24/7 professional care required at a fraction of the current costs.
After widespread public outrage, CLBC finally relented and approved the group home placement this week.
Global TV News explained this disturbing story
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BC CLAG press release:
CLBC waitlist figures unreliable says stakeholder group
BC-CLAG urges external review of CLBC’s mandate and operations
For immediate release: October 6, 2011 – Statistics showing how many people with developmental disabilities are waiting for services across British Columbia are unreliable and misleading, says the BC Community Living Action Group (BC-CLAG), which is calling on the government to conduct an external review of CLBC’s mandate and operations.
“We have very little confidence in the waitlist numbers. They misrepresent the scope, scale and severity of the community living crisis affecting vulnerable adults and their families,” says BC-CLAG partner Faith Bodnar. “Restoring faith in the community living support system should begin with an acknowledgement of the scope of the problem,” adds Bodnar.
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BCACL Executive Director, and BC-CLAG member addresses media after CLBC funding announcement
One-time $6 million in new funding inadequate to stem BC’s community living crisis
For immediate release: September 14, 2011: The one-time, $6 million in new funding announced today for Community Living BC (CLBC) is inadequate to stem the crisis in support and funding faced by the families of adults with developmental disabilities, says the BC Community Living Action Group (BC-CLAG).
The six million dollars will provide support for a total 123 adults with developmental disabilities for one year, based on CLBC’s average costs of $48,800 for providing supports and services per adult per year.
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$70 M needed immediately to stem community living crisis
CLAG partners urge Premier to address growing risks, restore confidence
For immediate release: August 31, 2011: The BC Community Living Action Group (BC‐CLAG) strongly urges Premier Christy Clark to act immediately to approve $70 million in new provincial funding to stem the province’s growing community living crisis.
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More on British Columbia’s community living crisis
- BC Family Net President Anita Dadson, one of the parents who pioneered BC’s community living movement, speaks in April 2011 at the launch of the BC-CLAG report recommending sweeping changes to address the growing crisis in BC’s community living sector.
In 2010, Community Living BC (CLBC) began ordering budget cuts and “service redesigns” across the sector to reduce its operating expenses by $22 million. With new demands, rising costs and frozen budgets, ongoing cuts continue, and even deeper cuts will be required to accommodate new pressures in the coming years, unless urgent action is taken by the Provincial government to address the growing and systemic crisis that is unfolding.
Funding for community living has failed to keep pace with growing demographic and inflationary pressures and is not nearly adequate to meet the support needs of adults with developmental disabilities, families and caregivers. Day programs are being cut or eliminated, group homes are being closed, and family supports are being reduced. Waitlists are long and growing. Individuals and families have not been consulted about the disturbing changes underway.
Human costs
Appropriate choices and support options to meet the range of needs have been eliminated, creating severe suffering and hardship for many individuals and families. The very real risks and impacts to human health, safety and wellbeing are not being effectively monitored or publicly reported.
These dramatic cost-driven changes are destroying the community inclusion infrastructure that supports adults with developmental disabilities in our province.
Families, who provide the vast majority of lifelong supports for adults with developmental disabilities, are collapsing under the crushing burden that they are being asked to shoulder all alone.
Most importantly, these sweeping cuts violate the fundamental rights of persons with disabilities to autonomy, independence, choice and support.
This cannot continue.
There’s a growing movement in the province to expose this crisis—to stop the erosion of BC’s community living sector and to help avert the tragic consequences of failing to acknowledge and address the deepening systemic crisis.
How you can help:
- Explore our Website to learn more about the background and impacts of the crisis in community living, how community advocates are working to address it and how you can help.
- Share your stories: If you have personally witnessed or experienced negative impacts relating to budget cuts, underfunding, service redesign and/or ineffective monitoring and oversight, please contact us at communitylivingaction@gmail.com. All information is kept in strict confidence unless you explicitly ask that it be shared, for example on our Voices page
- Take action: Visit our Action page for tips on writing a letter to Premier Christy Clark, contacting your MLA or communicating with local media to support our campaign.
Thank you!
