Page updated October 2026
Ministry of Children and Family Development response · May 4, 2026 · Ref. 307439
The Ministry replied. Here is what the letter says, and what the record shows.
The Ministry said diagnostic gatekeeping, rural access and transparent criteria are issues it "must address to build trust with families." It didn't say when, or how.
Overview
On March 9 and 25, 2026, we wrote to Premier David Eby and Minister Jodie Wickens about the changes to Children and Youth with Support Needs (CYSN) services, and sent more documentation on April 19 and 27. The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) replied by email on May 4, 2026, on behalf of the Minister. The reply says the feedback was forwarded to the Ministry's Policy, Legislation and Litigation Division.
The letter ends by saying "diagnostic gatekeeping, rural access, and the need for transparent criteria" are "all issues the Ministry must address to build trust with families."
On September 29, 2026, the Ministry of Attorney General told us that one sentence in the original letter is subject to solicitor-client privilege and was disclosed inadvertently, and provided a redacted copy. We have removed the original letter. This page quotes only the redacted copy.
What the Ministry said, in writing
"Thank you again for your advocacy on behalf of children and families across our province. Your feedback is essential to ensuring the system works as intended."
The letter then names the three concerns we raised, diagnostic gatekeeping, rural access and the need for transparent criteria, and calls them "all issues the Ministry must address to build trust with families."
That sentence confirms the three concerns at the centre of the March submission. It doesn't say they've been resolved. "Must" describes an obligation, not a plan.
When these issues will be addressed. When eligibility criteria will be published. Whether any rural outreach model is planned for the East Kootenay. Why the federal Disability Tax Credit counts for the Supplement but not the Benefit. Acknowledging a problem isn't the same as fixing it.
What the Ministry acknowledged
Diagnostic gatekeeping
The letter accepts that "one of the direct-admit pathways remains diagnosis-based (Intellectual Developmental Disorder)" and says "this is exactly why the needs-based review pathway exists." It doesn't commit to changing the diagnosis-based pathway.
Rural access
The letter says families in rural and remote communities "face unique challenges when accessing services." Its example is an Indigenous-led mobile outreach model serving First Nations communities around Williams Lake in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. It names no comparable model for the East Kootenay.
Unpublished criteria
On the needs-based review, the letter says "the full process has not yet been publicly shared." In May, families whose children didn't fit a direct-admit pathway had no published rules to prepare for.
The Ministry's explanations, and what the record shows
1. "Most CYSN services are not delivered under the CFCSA"
The letter says the new service model is consistent with the Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA), that decisions such as expanding community-based services "fall within government's policy-making role," and that in November 2023 programs including Autism Funding, the At Home Program, Family Support Services, Disability Services, Direct Funded Respite and Support Planning "were formally moved outside the Act." Only Special Needs Agreements and Support Service Agreements remain under it.
The Ministry's own Autism Agreement form names the Supply Act, the annual budget appropriation, as the authority for Autism Funding. MCFD's 2009 policies for Family Support and Behavioural Support Services relied on CFCSA sections 5 and 93. The legal footing of these programs has never been simple, and whether a program sits inside or outside the Act can affect which review and appeal rights families can rely on. See tab 6.
2. Services will be delivered "flexibly, locally, and in ways that fit each family's circumstances"
The letter says supports can be provided at home, in the community, in childcare or school, or through virtual outreach, and that providers "will work with families to reduce travel wherever possible."
The Province's community-based services provider list (March 12, 2026) showed no provider offering therapy services in the Interior East Kootenay service delivery area. The closest listed was in Nelson, in a different service delivery area, about 326 km from Fernie by road. The example the letter gives is from the Cariboo-Chilcotin.
3. The needs-based review will "consider a range of information"
The letter lists functional assessments, health-care provider attestations, and "medical and functional complexity, behavioural profile, and real-world functional impact."
In the same letter, the Ministry said "the full process has not yet been publicly shared." Families can't prepare for a pathway whose rules aren't published.
Five arguments the letter didn't answer
These are central points from the March 2026 submission. The letter doesn't dispute or engage with them.
The funding gap for community-based services
The submission estimated community-based provider funding at about $872 per child per year if spread across the 107,000 children the Ministry identified as needing support, against a benchmark of about $8,321 per child from three existing pilot hubs: roughly 10.5 cents on the dollar, and a gap of about $797 million a year.
The Disability Tax Credit contradiction
The federal Disability Tax Credit (DTC) is enough to qualify for the Disability Supplement, but it plays no part in qualifying for the Disability Benefit. A child the Canada Revenue Agency has found to have a severe and prolonged impairment can still be refused the Benefit. The letter doesn't explain why.
No therapy provider in the Interior East Kootenay
Based on the Province's own provider list. The letter's example, Williams Lake, is in another region.
The cost of travel
One round trip a month from Fernie to Nelson (652 km) costs about $5,476.80 a year at the $0.70 per kilometre rate used in the submission. That is 628% of the estimated $872.27 per child. The letter says providers will "reduce travel wherever possible" but makes no specific commitment.
A timeline for the eligibility criteria
The letter confirmed the criteria weren't public and gave no date. Autism Funding ends March 31, 2027.
The legal footing of these programs
Why this matters to families: the law a program sits under decides what rights families have when a decision goes against them.
Autism Funding and related programs run on the annual budget
Autism Funding, the At Home Program, School-Aged Extended Therapies and related CYSN programs are funded through MCFD's yearly appropriation under the Supply Act. The Autism Agreement every family signs says funds are provided "under the authority of the Supply Act." MCFD's own contracted evaluation (MNP, April 2025) records that a change "separating CYSN services from the CFCSA has been implemented across the province."
The same year, a different choice for youth leaving care
In May 2023, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2023 amended the CFCSA to bring supports for young adults leaving care (the SAJE program) into the Act, with the review rights that come with it. In November 2023, CYSN programs were described as outside the Act. Where government wrote supports into the Act, families got statutory review rights. CYSN families didn't.
The new Disability Benefit has no Act of its own
The Disability Supplement was written into law through Bill 2, Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2026. The Disability Benefit, part of the $475 million announced on February 10, 2026, has no enabling legislation that we have found. Its eligibility rules and funding levels are set by Ministry policy and can be changed without amending any Act. There is no statutory right of appeal; the Ministry's Guide says an appeals process is still being designed. The Operational Policy published September 11 lets families ask for reconsideration of a denied expense request, but no review or appeal of eligibility or funding-level decisions has been published.
These are questions we are putting to legal counsel. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
Since May 4
- Criteria published: The Ministry published eligibility criteria in June 2026 and updated them on August 14, 2026. They list eight areas of need with examples, but no threshold for how much need qualifies a child, and no criteria for the $17,000 level. See our plain-language guide.
- Direct-admit list: The Ministry's Guide for Current Service Recipients lists profound Autism, DSM-5 Level 3 Autism, Autism with an intellectual disability, and children eligible for the At Home Program, among others. Other Ministry pages word this list differently, and the Ministry has not said which version it uses.
- Appeals: No appeals process for eligibility or funding-level decisions has been published. Since September 11, families can ask for reconsideration of a denied expense request under the Operational Policy.
- Rural access: We have not seen a rural outreach model announced for the East Kootenay.
What you can do
- Share this analysis with BC families who may not know what is happening to their child's services.
- Email your MLA. In the Kootenays: Pete Davis, Steve Morissette or Scott McInnis. Tell them how this affects your family.
- Read the evidence. See our Foreseeable Harm report and our legal analysis.
Sources
- Ministry of Children and Family Development, email response on behalf of the Minister, May 4, 2026 (Ref. 307439), redacted copy provided by the Ministry of Attorney General.
- Ministry of Attorney General, Legal Services Branch, letter of September 29, 2026 regarding the May 4, 2026 letter.
- Henderson, L., Formal Submission of Evidence (CYSN grievance), Fernie BC, March 2026: per-child funding estimates, pilot hub benchmark, travel cost calculation.
- Province of BC, community-based services provider list, last updated March 12, 2026.
- MCFD, Autism Agreement forms CF0907 and CF0909 (revision 2021/05), privacy notice.
- MNP LLP, Evaluation of Piloted Changes to CYSN Services, April 2025, p.32 and footnote 83.
- Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2023, SBC 2023, c. 16.
- Province of BC (Ministry of Finance), B.C. children and youth disability supplement, last updated September 1, 2026: Bill 2, Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2026.
- MCFD, Guide for Current Service Recipients, version 2 (p.16): appeals process to be designed.
- Province of BC, news release, February 10, 2026; BC Children and Youth Disability Benefit: Determining Eligibility, last updated August 14, 2026; MCFD, What is the BC Children and Youth Disability Benefit?