Questions regarding the transition from the old autism program to the new one

One thing I haven’t written about yet is the transition from the old funding model to the new; rather my focus has been on what the new one would look like when fully implemented.

Here’s what we know so far about the transition, direct from the Ontario government’s website:

Introducing Childhood Budgets starting April 1, 2019

New Childhood Budgets will provide more families with access to a broader range of eligible services that they believe are most helpful for their child and family. This will include behavioural services such as assessments and consultations, family/caregiver capacity building and training, respite services, technology aids, and travel.

Childhood Budgets will be available for children up to age 18 and will be subject to annual income testing. Families currently on the waitlist for services can expect to receive their budgets within the next 18 months.

Two key pieces of info here:

• The transition starts April 1, 2019
• The transition is expected to last 18 months (that is, until Sept. 30, 2020)

This leaves me with the following questions:

1. For children currently receiving funding, how much funding will they receive upon renewal? Will it be the existing amount? The amount from the new funding formula? Something else? Nothing?
2. For children currently on the waiting list, how long will it take them to receive funding? What does the process look like? Will they all have to wait until October 1, 2020?
3. For children diagnosed during this period, will they receive their funding before October 1, 2020? On Oct. 1? Or will they have to wait a full 18 months? (So a child diagnosed on February 20, 2020 would need to wait until August 20, 2021)
4. Will the government continue to spend the same amount of money on services during this period? Or will they be saving money by reducing funding to kids currently receiving treatment while not extending new funding to kids on the waiting list?

There is a complete lack of transparency in this new “plan”, leaving families scrambling to know what this means for their kids.