The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

9 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,F ebruary 21,2019 insidehalton.com Pud bySteveNease Regarding the new "childhood budget" for in- dividuals with autism put in place by Ford: where do I even begin? While this news is great for children who are currently sitting on a wait-list, this news al- so leaves so many ques- tions unanswered. Let's break it down: - Families with an annu- al household income under $250,000 will be eligible to receive funding; - Children diagnosed under the age of six will re- ceive $140,000, spread out over each year up until age 18 (unclear if it will be the same amount each year, or if it would lessen each year as the child ages); - Children diagnosed at or over the age of seven will receive up to $55,000, spread out over each year up until age 18; - Families currently on the wait-list for services can expect to receive their budget within the next 18 months; and - The Childhood Budget will allow families to allo- cate the funds toward as- sessments, therapy, respite services and technology. Should children be tak- en off the wait-list? Yes! Ab- solutely. But where will these 23,000 children cur- rently waiting for therapy go? In order for a child to re- ceive proper therapy and treatment, it requires a team of people: there must be a clinical supervisor, a senior therapist, and at least two instructor thera- pists. While there are many people in this field, we cur- rently do not have the re- sources to service that many children. Even par- ents of individuals who have received a diagnosis AND their funding are of- ten wait-listed by centres, as those centres do not have the current staff need- ed. Yes, early intervention is key, no one is denying that! But it is called intensive behavioural intervention - If a child of four years of age receives a diagnosis, they will receive enough funds for approximately two months of intensive be- havioural therapy. If they want to spread it out over the whole year, that child will be getting nowhere near the number of hours per week of therapy that is needed for it to be effective. No one is looking at the severity of these diagnoses; no one is considering the fact that certain individu- als with autism require more therapy for a longer period of time, while other individuals may only re- quire social skills pro- grams for a couple hours per week. Please don't get me wrong, I am thrilled for the par- ents of children that have been waiting patiently for their child to receive ser- vices. But this new "child- hood budget" is most cer- tainly not the answer we are looking for. KENDRA LUTLEY, OAKVILLE RAPE CRISIS CENTRES NEED PROMISED FUNDING MORE THAN EVER Sexual Assault & Vio- lence Intervention Servic- es of Halton stands in soli- darity with the 36 other rape and crisis centres across Ontario, and shares their need for increased funding as promised by the Liberal government last spring. Since the rise of the #metoo and #TimesUp movements, Sexual As- sault & Violence Interven- tion Services (SAVIS) of Halton has seen a massive growth in the demand for sexual violence support services in the Halton Re- gion. There has also been a large community demand for increased public educa- tion presentations on top- ics such as consent, healthy relationships and the dangers of toxic mascu- linity. This demand for ser- vices far exceeds the cur- rent staff capacity of our agency, and the result is long wait lists for services. As awareness of sexual violence increases, so does the demand for services that address and support survivors' needs. If we are to adequately address the momentum of the #metoo and #TimesUp movements, it is para- mount that community based sexual assault and rape and crisis centres are allocated the funding that was promised. The provincial govern- ment needs to acknowl- edge the demand for vio- lence support services, and support survivors of trau- ma through increased funding of community- based rape and crisis cen- tres. ALMA ARGUELLO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SAVIS OF HALTON LETTERS TO THE EDITOR FORD GOVERNMENT'S 'CHILDHOOD BUDGET' NOT THE ANSWER SUBMIT MARCH BREAK EVENTS AT INSIDEHALTON.COM See the news before it's in print at ONLY ONLINE InsideHalton com InsideHaltInsideHalton cocom UNSOLVED COLD CASES Visit InsideHalton.com/coldcase to join us as we investigate unsolved crimes across Ontario.