Letter from SpecialLink-D Mayer

October 5, 2009

Premier Gordon Campbell premier@gov.bc.ca
Honorable Mary Polack, Minister Children and Family Development Minister.MCF@gov.bc.ca
Lesley Du Toit, Deputy Minister, Children and Family Development MCF.DeputyMinisterOffice@gov.bc.ca
Dear Premier Campbell, Minister Polack and Ms Du Toit,

SpeciaLink: the National Centre for Child Care Inclusion works to expand the quality and quantity of opportunities for inclusion in child care, recreation, and other community settings, for young children with special support needs and their families. Since our founding in 1989, we have put researchers, trainers, policy makers, parents, early childhood educators and centre directors in touch with the best inclusive practices on the frontlines of child care. As such, we address services, systems and policies related to our goals and our focus is on capacity development and knowledge exchange. On behalf of the board of directors of SpeciaLink, the National Centre for Child Care Inclusion, I write with concern at the news that your government has cancelled the contracts for the Provincial Office of Infant Development Programs, the Provincial Office of Aboriginal Infant Development and the Supported Child Development Provincial Office.
Just over a year ago, these unique and quite wonderful BC initiatives were highlighted at the SpeciaLink National Symposium on Early Intervention and Inclusion, (which your government helped to fund) and BC was recognized as a leader in its innovative approach to service delivery. The Provincial Advisors were most generous in sharing BC’s ‘lessons learned’ about inclusion and early intervention across our country. There was huge interest shown by other governments’ policy analysts in your approach; your ability to provide direct service in rural, remote and northern communities; and the provision of the systems support required through the provincial offices.
SpeciaLink’s own quite extensive body of research has shown over and over that systematic, stable support for inclusion is critical. In fact, without policy directives and appropriate resources from government, inclusive early learning and child care is likely to be hit-and-miss, variable across and within jurisdictions, and sustainable only to the degree that exceptional individuals make it happen.
We have long recommended that provincial governments develop and support effective public policies and program approaches to ensure that high quality, affordable, accessible, inclusive early learning and child care for all children becomes a sustainable reality. Without such a commitment, children’s services will continue to flounder, marginalized, insufficiently supported, and inaccessible to many families, and plagued by frequent staff turnover and stress.
Earlier this year, the Division for Early Childhood-Council for Exceptional Children and the National Association for the Education of Young Children published an evidence based, joint position statement which points out that “in addition to provisions addressing access and participation, an infrastructure of systems-level supports must be in place to undergird the efforts of individuals and organizations providing inclusive services to children and families…. Because collaboration among key stakeholders (e.g., families, practitioners, specialists, and administrators) is a cornerstone for implementing high quality early childhood inclusion, resources and program policies are needed to promote multiple opportunities for communication and collaboration among these groups.” Is this not the very important role played by your provincial offices? Furthermore, these two internationally regarded organizations recommend that “funding policies should promote the pooling of resources and the use of incentives to increase access to high quality inclusive opportunities….(and) to ensure that all early childhood practitioners and programs are prepared to address the needs and priorities of infants and young children with disabilities and their families.”[1]
In light of the early intervention and inclusion evidence base and the best practices recommended by Canadian and American organizations, we encourage you to reverse this decision, and to support child development and family well-being in British Columbia by continuing to fund the key role of the provincial offices for supported child development, infant development and Aboriginal infant development. SpeciaLink would be pleased to provide consultation to your staff with respect to inclusion and the kinds of policy supports that help in its actualization. We thank you in advance for your consideration of our position.
Sincerely,
Debra Mayer MA
Director

[1] DEC/NAEYC. (2009). Early childhood inclusion: A joint position statement of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute.