The provincial government must create a new eligibility process for youth with lifelong disabilities, following BC Court of Appeal’s denial of government appeal of Fahlman v CLBC, says BC Association of Social Workers
The BC Association of Social Workers applauds the Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss the provincial government’s legal appeal of Judge Chamberlist’s ruling, Fahlman v. CLBC. The government’s appeal represented a legal fight to deny services to people with a lifelong neurological disability. The appeal flew in the face of the evidence that had been presented to Judge Chamberlist, and contradicted the substantial expertise of professional social workers and others in the community living field.
The dismissal of the government’s appeal is a major victory for every youth like Neil Fahlman, who qualified for supportive programs and services from Community Living BC, but upon turning 19 faced the immediate end of that support. It is also a victory for mothers like Fiona Gow and the parents she represented in her fight to have services in place for her son. The Appeal Court decision means that cutting off services to youth at age 19, who have a lifelong disability but whose IQ exceeds 70, is now legally invalid and must stop, says Linda Korbin, Executive Director of BCASW. BCASW child and family welfare spokesperson Paul Jenkinson says it is now time for government to take the misdirected energy it invested in a court appeal and put that expertise to work developing criteria for service, a bridge that will allow youth with lifelong neurological disorders to move confidently out of adolescence knowing that an adequate level of service and supports will be in place throughout their adult lives.
BCASW recommends that:
- government forego any further appeals and publicly acknowledge that the IQ 70 criteria will no longer be used as an eligibility requirement for services provided by Community Living BC.
- government act in a timely fashion to produce a new process which ensures that young citizens with lifelong cognitive-developmental disabilities are not denied service in the future.
- the eligibility process be constructed in such a way that persons with FASD, various forms of autism and those with other pervasive developmental disorders are provided appropriate levels of lifelong support.
- government seek a redistribution of federal and provincial budgets, recognizing that an increase in support services does not have to produce a huge increase in overall spending. It is likely that the new focus of supporting this group of adults will be equal to or reduce overall budgets, if there is a redistribution of designated funds (ie reducing money spent in the criminal justice system while increasing other budgets for supported housing or supports to independent living).
- government, and specifically CLBC, make public and easily accessible information about their new eligibility process.
BCASW and social workers practicing at CLBC are carefully watching how this government will respond to the court’s denial of their appeal. BCASW encourages the government to move rapidly so that persons with these cognitive disabilities are able to more successfully engage in life.
