Children in care may face compromised health care and longer waits, as Children’s Aid Society closes its medical clinic.
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Local kids in need may face compromised care and long waits in clinics and emergency rooms as the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) of London and Middlesex shuts down its internal medical clinic, the organization’s union leaders say.
It’s a move that may also force child welfare workers to wait with youth for care, straining an already understaffed system, and further deter badly needed foster families from stepping forward because of the health-care complications it’ll cause.
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The clinic, operating for 55 years, regularly has a patient load of nearly 300 youth at any given time and will shut down at the end of April, CAS officials say.
“This is a crisis. It will exacerbate problems in an already struggling mental health care system,” said Barry Verberne, president of Local 116 Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents 240 local CAS workers.
“That clinic provides essential services. It has a pediatrician that prescribes (medication).”
He pointed to the challenge finding a family doctor as an example of what awaits CAS youth. The clinic also served youth from other areas such as Oxford County and Sarnia.
“We have children with complex needs, mental health needs,” Verberne said. “This means they will wait in emergency rooms or walk-in clinics. The fear is children will not get the health care they need. Children will struggle.”
Verberne cited “chronic underfunding” from the Ontario government as the reason for the closing. It costs $260,000 a year to operate the clinic and the local Children’s Aid is facing a $6.9-million deficit.
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The clinic has a part-time pediatrician, two Children’s Aid staff, a nurse and an administrative assistant.
Once a child or youth enters care, they must be seen by a doctor within 72 hours and this will make that all the more difficult, said Maureen Reid, a social work consultant and therapist in London who used to work at Children’s Aid.
“Many of the children have pretty complex medical needs, and require constant care. There’s an expertise at the clinic. The pediatrician sees these children and can respond to concerns. This comes at a time we have a massive shortage of mental health services,” said Reid.
“There will be consequences. People can’t get medical care, can’t get a family doctor. It’s short-sighted.”
She also fears foster families, knowing they will have to deal directly with medical issues and commit to long waits in emergency departments or clinics, may step away from Children’s Aid. “Foster parents may reconsider taking children with needs. They will be even harder to place. It’s a cut to frontline service.”
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An official with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services in an email response to London Free Press questions said the CAS of London and Middlesex got a $1.8-million funding increase during the previous year.
The Ontario government invests nearly $1.7 billion a year in 50 Children’s Aid organizations provincewide, including 13 Indigenous societies, the provincial official said. In its 2024 budget, an additional $310 million was provided during three years to address operational costs for community organizations, they added.
In a statement, local Children’s Aid officials said they’re developing a “transition plan” and will work with “community partners to create an ongoing system of primary care for children,” including family health teams and nurse practitioners.
The children now in care who attend the clinic will continue to receive ongoing care, officials said, adding details will be announced soon.
“The closure of a long-time program that supports primary care for some of our community’s most vulnerable children is very difficult. I acknowledge the important work of the clinic over the years and the quality care and support that have been provided to children and young people,” said Chris Tremeer, executive director of the local Children’s Aid Society.
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The clinic provided primary health care to children in the care of Children’s Aid for 55 years, opening in July 1970.
Teresa Armstrong, NDP MPP for London-Fanshawe and a former critic of the child and youth services ministry, agreed with Verberne that the real issue is a lack of support from the Ontario government.
“It’s crucial to ensure there is success in the foster system. It’s hard to access care in London and this will just create more of a bottleneck” in emergency rooms, she said. “There has been constant underfunding from the (Doug) Ford government, the cuts keep coming.”
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