Letter from Sharon Hope -Special Links

76 Cottage Road
Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 2C7
902-562-1662

October 2, 2009


Honorable Mary Polack, Minister Children and Family Development Minister
MCF@gov.bc.ca

Dear Minister Polack:

It is with great shock that I read of the probable cessation of the Offices of the Provincial Advisors to the Infant Development Program, the Aboriginal Infant Development Program, the Supported Child Development Program and the Aboriginal Supported Child Development Program. I say “probable” because to end these functions would be a terrible mistake.

To replace the unique expertise of thirty-four years of work, with three social workers in management functions with no experience in the field, would eviscerate the current focus on parents of children with disabilities as competent human beings who know their children well. The IDP program and all other effective programs geared to helping parents be more effective in assisting their children with disabilities depends upon an ethic of respect and understanding that parents know their own children best. IDP is not about deficient parents and their children with disabilities; it is about parents struggling to do their best in very difficult situations, where “ordinary wisdom” on child rearing is not sufficient. As Dana Brynelson once told me: “Parents who come from other cultures can call upon their kin and friends for advice. The parents of a child who is Deaf almost never has kin or friends to call upon for advice. It’s the same for blindness, for intellectual disability, for autism, etc., etc. That’s why we need IDP.”

Dana Brynelson, as the Provincial Advisor to the Infant Development Program has provided guidance, standards of performance and efficiency, training and most importantly, a vision of what early services to children with disabilities and their families ought to be. She has been a mentor to me and to hundreds of people like me, across this country, the United States, and Australia (perhaps more, but these are the ones I know), in addition to playing a similar function within British Columbia. Her honorary doctorate is evidence of the high regard in which her work is held. The other three “provincial advisor” offices in British Columbia are modeled after her work for very good reasons — the possibility of incorporating the vision and excellence of the Infant Development Program into the other three.

It’s expedient to speak of supporting “direct service” and stripping away a layer of administration or bureaucracy. Let’s imagine the same process in our health services, our schools, our government offices. Citizens would complain and business management researchers would demonstrate that relatively similar levels of service could not be maintained without these “advisors”. The advisors’ offices provide the template and the glue for holding together disparate community organizations, each of which has some of the pieces of the puzzle, but not the entirety.

All of these services are relatively new. Thirty-four years is a short period of time compared to our more traditional services, such as medicine and education. But Dana knew how important it was to develop a profession — the Infant Development consultant. Only through Dr. Brynelson’s pioneering efforts has an institute been built that attracts the world’s best clinicians, researchers, and practitioners as lecturers. These lecturers are there because of Dana — her skill, her reputation, her expertise, and the likelihood that the students (IDP consultants) will be supported as they take their learning home — nurtured by the IDP advisors to incorporate the ideas and skills they have gained over the summer. Once again, all of British Columbia has benefited from the vision of Dana Brynelson.

If there is any way that I can assist in a review, in a consultation, in further explanations of the reasons for the position I take, please let me know.

Yours sincerely


Sharon Hope Irwin
Senior Researcher
SpeciaLink: The National Centre for Child Care Inclusion

cc:
Lesley Du Toit, Deputy Minister, Children and Family Development.
MCF.DeputyMinisterOffice@gov.bc.ca

Premier Gordon Campbell <>