The Case for Investing in Early Childhood Intervention programs in British Columbia.

December 2016 Report on the Provincial Summit.

Sponsored by:

• Inclusion BC
• Richmond Society for Community Living
• Inclusion Langley
• BC Association for Child Development and Intervention
• BC Centre for Ability
• Family Support Institute of BC

INTRODUCTION

This report summarizes what we heard at the November 16th 2016 Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) Summit in Vancouver, which brought together almost 100 child-serving professionals and agency leaders from around BC to build the case for investing in ECI in our province.

We’ve long had extensive evidence that ECI is one of the very best investments a society can make. But summit participants described mounting pressures facing ECI programs across BC, after a decade of no new provincial program funding to address growing demands. Children with developmental delays are not receiving timely supports critical to their development. And as summit attendees emphasized, the narrow window for most effectively delivering ECI means children can’t wait.

The November 16th Summit was co-sponsored by Inclusion BC, the BC Association for Child Development and Intervention (BCACDI), BC Centre for Ability, Langley Association for Community Living, Richmond Association for Community Living and Family Support Institute of BC. It builds on our recent FSI-BC led collaboration with BCACDI to document the experience of families of children with developmental challenges, as captured in our December 2016 report. That investigation documented excessive wait times, information gaps and a lack of support as parents struggle to navigate a complex and often inaccessible system and fight to get their children the help they need.

Kids can’t wait. Neither can we.

Kid's Can't Wait