Waterloo Children & Youth Services Planning ... - Social Services

June 2012
In another survey question about how many services parents explored before finding the
right service, approximately 40% reported to contact with 1 to 3 services before finding
the right one (figure 4). Approximately 20% of parents report not having found the right
service yet.
Figure 4
In parent forums and surveys some parents described their experience finding a service
and then having to deal with their child “aging out” or finishing a “block” of treatment.
One parent reported that she’d heard other parents talk about being so desperate for
service that they accepted a service that was not “perfect” but enough to keep them
connected to a support system. Many parents reported using insurance dollars, or their
own financial resources to purchase services during periods when they were exploring
other options. Many parents expressed concern for those families unable to do the same
for lack of financial and other resources.
In both parent forums during discussions of the experience of accessing a service parents
expressed concern for other parents who might not have the resources needed to endure
the long and complicated process for finding the right service in Waterloo Region. One
parent whose first language was not English described his experience as difficult and
expressed concerns for others whose language barriers and hesitation to ask questions
would most likely prevent them from successfully navigating the access journey. This
parent started his search by asking his landlord about the services in the region. He later
described that it was an administrative support person at his child’s school that told him
about self-referring to KidsAbility despite having visited a local hospital a year earlier. He
stated that the time lost by not receiving accurate information in the first place was a
grave concern.
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