(Quebec) Christine Labrie wants to convince the Legault government to give priority to children with special needs to obtain a subsidized place in the network of educational childcare services.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
The MNA for Sherbrooke and spokesperson for Québec solidaire on family matters calls on her government counterpart, Minister Mathieu Lacombe, to adapt Bill 1, nicknamed “the big project for families” , in order to give special attention to parents whose child with autism, disability or requiring special attention is sometimes discriminated against by the network, for lack of space or means.
“There are plenty of young children with special needs. Children who are disabled, children who are followed by youth protection, children who are in a dynamic of domestic violence within their family. I think that these children should also be prioritized to have a subsidized place, because subsidized places are an important protective factor for the child and for his family,” says Ms.me Labrie to The Press.
crying needs
In its version currently being studied in a parliamentary committee, the Legault government’s bill already provides that “children who live in contexts of socio-economic precariousness must be prioritized in the admission policies of childcare service providers”. The solidarity MP submitted an amendment to add children recommended by the health and social services network.
“These children are currently being penalized when they should be given priority,” she laments.
According to Christine Labrie, this amendment could be interpreted as a first response to the cry from the heart last week in The Press André Lebon, former vice-president of the Special Commission on Children’s Rights and Youth Protection, who among other things asked Quebec to improve front-line services before children end up in the Department of youth protection (DPJ).
“When we talk about acting in prevention and on the front line before going to the DPJ, that’s also what we’re talking about. When we say that it is not normal for us to go to youth protection in a lot of cases, because there would be a way to help these families with other types of services, it there is [cette question] to have a place in an educational childcare service,” says Ms.me Labrie.
“For a family that has a child with special needs and who cannot obtain services, distress and enormous exhaustion set in. And that comes with financial precariousness, because these people can’t go back to work. Giving them priority access is a protective factor that we give them,” she adds.