HSA Urges Government to Increase Funding for Child Development Centres

Report on services also calls for renewal of funding for Starbright, changes to contract award process

HSA has recently made a written submission to the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development on the future of services for children and youth with support needs (CYSN).

MCFD’s consultation followed the provincial government’s decision to pause the further implementation of Family Connection Centres (FCC) in 2023.

In early 2024, HSA initiated a large research project to provide government with the perspectives of frontline professionals in the child development sector. HSA is the lead union in the child development sector, representing over 1,000 specialized frontline professionals.

Over the course of 2024, HSA conducted 17 focus groups involving over 100 frontline staff working in CDCs and non-profit agencies across the province – the most extensive effort to understand challenges and opportunities in the child development sector from the perspective of those professionals who work most closely with CYSN and their families.

This research spotlights the frontline voices from approximately two-thirds of CDCs and non-profit child development agencies in the province.

Building from the work of the Representative for Children and Youth and Dr. Pat Mirenda, HSA’s submission reviews the research literature on effective CYSN services, including the importance of community-based, non-profit service provision.

Based on the extensive and in-depth focus groups, the report identifies many strengths of the current network of Child Development Centres (CDCs) province-wide, including:

• a coordinated, family-centred, interprofessional team approach under one roof;
• evidence-based service delivery; and,
• strong evidence of CDC’s cross-sector collaboration. 

The report also identified concerns with BC’s system of services for CYSN, with a focus on centre-based service delivery and the proposed FCC model: 

• competitive tendering and request for proposals for awarding FCC contracts could lead to the privatization of non-profit CYSN services;
• long wait times are a product of severely inadequate staffing levels and provincial funding;
• frontline staff face burnout and moral distress due to large caseloads and long wait times;
• staffing shortages and recruitment and retention challenges are widespread;
• quality and ethical concerns with private, for-profit service provision, including for autism;
• the FCC contract language is not fit-for-purpose and yet there are opportunities to learn from the CDC model;
• provincial funding should support a consistent suite of community-based, non-profit services in every community;

Regardless of the label used, CDCs are, in many ways, an existing “family connection centre” that provide coordinated, interdisciplinary access to publicly funded services and supports under one roof. CDCs and other non-profit agencies should be supported through a community development approach to significantly expand and enhance their services. A community development approach means supporting the expansion of the existing nonprofit sector, rather than creating a competitive landscape of winners and losers that may ultimately undermine the strengths of the current system.

HSA’s submission makes 14 detailed policy recommendations to government which include:

• Stop further implementation of Family Connection Centres based on competitive tendering and request for proposal (RFP).
• Immediately provide Starbright Children’s Development Centre with an indefinite term funding contract extension similar to what existed prior to the FCC pilot implementation in order to maintain workforce stability and service continuity for CYSN and families.
• Immediately increase CDC funding by at least 50% to allow organizations to increase staffing levels, expand programs, and reduce wait times for CYSN.
• Modernize the Procurement Services Act, the Core Policies and Procedures Manual, and Capital Asset Management Framework, so that alternatives to competitive tendering and RFP are the preferred methods for funding health and social services that are not delivered directly by government or health authorities. 
• Develop a transparent, data-informed, and population-based core funding model for centre-based services that better aligns funding allocation with provincial wait-time access standards.
   

The full submission is available here.