D. Brynelsen: Response to V Sun Letters November 2, 2009

Judy Sahadeo is right to express deep concern over the closure of the Provincial Infant Development Program (IDP) Office. The IDP was created with a vision that all families with infants and young children with developmental problems like prematurity, developmental delay, or a disability would have access to information and support no matter where they lived in BC. We know that resources are not equitably available across this province. Over many years we developed a network of information, support and training to address these inequities.



Through the IDP, a parent of a baby with a rare condition living in Kimberley can be linked to a parent of an older child living in Burnaby who has ‘been there’ who can offer that new mother or father, support and guidance. Further, the Infant Consultant in the Kootenays can get information and support from the Consultant in the Lower Mainland who many have seem many more infants with similar diagnosis.



There are five MCFD Regions in BC. Although the boundaries have recently changed, only one has a Children’s Hospital, only two with specialized services for infants with hearing and vision loss. We don’t have the population in BC to support specialized resources in each region. We need to share. There are 187,000 people living in the North region, and next year 4 babies in the north will be born with Down syndrome, another 8 with hearing loss, others with rarer conditions like Williams syndrome. Each of these babies will be born hundreds of kilometers from each other and thousands of kilometers from resources in the Lower Mainland. Can or should we expect this region to have the knowledge or resources to support these children and their families and the staff who serve them without provincial links and training?



Through the Provincial IDP Office we train Infant Consultants in the administration of assessments used to plan programs for infants to encourage their development. At our last training session 53 Consultants registered. 8 consultants completed the training which takes 3 sessions to complete and 43 need an additional one or two training sessions and ongoing clinical supervision. With the closure of the Office no more training is scheduled. It is neither efficient nor cost effective to train at the regional level. 43 Consultants will serve about 2000 families over the next year and will not be using an approved assessment in their work. This affects direct service and the outcomes for the children and families served by the IDP.



Investing dollars in front line services is admirable but only if front line staff are trained and supported. I am advising MCFD to think hard about their decision to cut training and support to front line staff. I am reminding families in BC of the vision behind the IDP, a provincial network of information and support available to you and your baby no matter where you live in this great province.





Dana Brynelsen

Provincial Advisor,

Infant Development Program of BC



Dana Brynelsen

Provincial Advisor

Infant Development Program of BC

2765 Osoyoos Crescent

Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1X7