Page updated October 2026
Minister of Children and Family Development reply · June 17, 2026 · Ref. 309840
The Minister replied to our implementation capacity letter. Here is what the reply says.
Our April 26, 2026 letter asked how the Ministry will deliver the new system, and asked it to keep Autism Funding in place until key questions were answered. Minister Wickens replied with a nine page appendix. This page sets out what it answered, what it clarified, and what is still open.
Overview
On April 26, 2026, we wrote to Jodie Wickens, Minister of Children and Family Development, about the Ministry's capacity to deliver the redesigned Children and Youth with Support Needs (CYSN) system. Our full letter, with fourteen source documents, was attached. It also went to MLA Reann Gasper and to the Ministers of Health and Finance. You can read our analysis of the letter here.
The Minister replied on June 17, 2026 (Ref. 309840) with a one page cover letter and Appendix A: Response to Issues Raised in Correspondence Dated April 26, 2026. The appendix answers our letter in seven sections and a conclusion.
Read the Minister's reply (PDF)
- The two caseload figures are explained. About 35,577 children have Autism Funding files. About 27,080 were actively using their funding. The other 8,500 or so have files but were not invoicing.
- No Family Connections Centre rollout. The Ministry says it is "not transitioning families from Autism funding to a province-wide Family Connections Centre or 'hub' model." Expanded services will go through existing community agencies instead. See tab 4 for how the two compare.
- Disability Tax Credit (DTC) costs are covered. Up to $300 of the medical practitioner's fee for completing the DTC form can be reimbursed from a family's Autism Funding.
- The dates are set out. Autism Funding ends March 31, 2027. The Disability Benefit is fully operational April 1, 2027. The Disability Supplement is expected to start July 1, 2027.
An answer on extending Autism Funding. Timelines for the three outstanding Auditor General recommendations. Any mention of the Prince Rupert pilot. A fiscal impact analysis. A published count of how many children are expected to qualify for the Benefit, the Supplement, or neither. A bridge for the months between the end of Autism Funding and the first Supplement payment.
Scorecard: what we asked and what the reply said
Our cover letter asked the Minister to extend Autism Funding until five conditions were met. The full letter, attached to the Minister's copy, set out six more things we asked to be sought from the Ministry. Here is each one, next to the reply.
Asked of the Minister directly
Extend Autism Funding until the five conditions below are met
The reply: restates the timeline. "Autism Funding will continue until March 31, 2027, while the Disability Supplement is expected to begin in July 2027." It does not say whether an extension was considered.
A public accounting of the three outstanding 2019 Auditor General recommendations, with completion timelines
The reply: says the Ministry accepted all recommendations, describes the Specialized Homes and Support Services (SHSS) model, confirms "some recommendations remain in progress," and explains that broad systemic change takes time. It gives no completion date for any of them.
An independent assessment of the Prince Rupert hub, and remediation for families
The reply: does not mention Prince Rupert or Haida Gwaii.
A formal fiscal impact analysis of downstream costs
The reply: explains how the Ministry forecast demand for the new programs, including a 22 per cent growth assumption. It does not provide an analysis of the downstream costs of restructuring Autism Funding.
Public disclosure of the cross-ministry Child and Youth Well-Being Plan
The reply: does not mention the plan. The Province did publish a Child and Youth Well-Being Action Plan and Outcomes Framework, both dated June 2026. See tab 6.
Evidence that the contracted system meets independently verified quality standards
The reply: describes contract requirements and monitoring, and says providers above the accreditation threshold must be accredited "through an approved independent accrediting body." It says the Ministry "is not aware of any Child Development Centres receiving funding above the accreditation threshold that are operating outside of accreditation requirements." It gives no evidence for providers below the threshold and no outcome data.
Raised in the full letter
Reconcile 35,577 Autism Funding cases with the 27,080 children cited on February 10
The reply: the portal counts children with Autism Funding files. The announcement figure counts children actively accessing funding through invoices and direct payments. See tab 3.
Publish a breakdown of how many children are projected to receive the Benefit, the Supplement, or neither
The reply: says detailed data tables and methodology were shared with the Representative for Children and Youth. They were not published. The only new projection is that about 80 per cent of families eligible for the Supplement will receive some payment.
How many contracted providers are out of compliance with the accreditation policy, and what consequences apply
The reply: speaks to Child Development Centres only, and says none above the threshold is known to be out of compliance. It gives no figure for other contracted providers and does not describe consequences.
Measurable improvements to contractor monitoring since 2019
The reply: lists the SHSS model, new contract approaches, enhanced service standards, strengthened monitoring and improved quality assurance. It does not give measures or results.
Expand Direct Admit eligibility to include Autism at all DSM-5 levels
The reply: does not mention Direct Admit. It says Benefit eligibility "is based on the nature, intensity, persistence, and impact of a child or youth's support needs rather than diagnosis alone."
Pause the transition to community-based services until the contracted system is shown to be accountable
The reply: does not address a pause. It says community-based services will be an expansion of existing providers, not a Family Connections Centre model. See tab 4 for how the two compare.
The numbers
Why there were two caseload figures
Our letter pointed out that the Ministry's public reporting portal showed about 35,577 Autism Funding cases as of March 2025, while the figure given at the February 10 announcement was 27,080. The reply explains the difference:
"The approximately 8,500 children with Autism Funding files whose families are not accessing Autism Funding are eligible to receive funds but have not chosen to invoice or receive funding. Nevertheless, those families have been factored into estimates on eligibility moving forward."
About 35,577
Children and youth with an Autism Funding file.
About 27,080
Children actively accessing Autism Funding through invoices and direct funding payments in the reporting period.
About 8,500
Eligible children whose families were not invoicing. That is roughly one in four file holders.
The Ministry says the 8,500 families are included in its eligibility planning. Our letter applied the Ministry's 80 per cent figure (see below) to estimate how many Autistic children would receive neither the Benefit nor the Supplement: about 5,400 using 27,080, or about 7,100 using 35,577. If the planning base includes every file holder, the higher number is the closer one. The Ministry has not published its own count.
The figures have since moved. The Ministry's Commonly Asked Questions page (August 11, 2026 update) says about 39,000 children with Autism have an open Autism Funding case, about 27,079 received reimbursements last year, and "more than 10,000 children known to the ministry are not currently participating in direct funding."
How the Ministry forecast demand
"While historical Autism Funding caseload growth has averaged approximately 16 per cent annually since 2018, the Ministry applied a higher growth assumption of approximately 22 per cent when modelling future demand and expenditures."
This is new information. It shows the Ministry modelled more growth than past trends alone would suggest. Our letter noted the program had more than doubled since 2018. The forecast covers demand for the new programs, not the downstream costs our letter asked about.
Two different 80 per cent figures
The reply gives a new estimate for the Disability Supplement:
"Based on income distribution data in British Columbia, the Ministry estimates that approximately 80 per cent of families eligible for the Supplement will receive direct funding through this program."
80% of Supplement-eligible families
Of families who qualify through the DTC, about 80 per cent are expected to have an income low enough to receive a payment. That implies about 20 per cent would receive nothing from the Supplement because of income.
80% of families currently served
The FAQ says "approximately 80% of families currently receiving Ministry services are expected to qualify for the Benefit and/or Supplement" (p. 10). This is the figure our letter used.
These measure different groups, so they can't be combined. Neither one tells a family of an Autistic child how many children in their situation will receive the Benefit, the Supplement, or neither.
The Disability Tax Credit
Our letter noted that on March 31, 2026, Assistant Deputy Minister Emily Horton told parents that 30 to 40 per cent of active Autism Funding cases did not have an approved DTC on file. The reply acknowledges this:
"The Ministry recognizes that some families currently receiving Autism Funding may not have an approved Disability Tax Credit ... This is why expenses associated with applying for the Disability Tax Credit are now eligible to be covered by a family's Autism Funding."
If your child doesn't yet have an approved DTC, you can use your Travel, Training and Equipment budget to cover the medical practitioner's fee for completing the DTC form (Form T2201). The Ministry's Commonly Asked Questions page says up to $300 can be reimbursed with a receipt, and no Justification for Equipment form is needed. It covers fees from eligible medical practitioners only, not third-party consultants or companies that help with DTC applications.
The Supplement depends on DTC approval. See our funding FAQ for what the Canada Revenue Agency requires.
Services and quality
Hubs by another name?
Our cover letter described the new model as including "an expansion of community-based services through Family Connections Centres." The reply disputes this:
"The Ministry is not transitioning families from Autism funding to a province-wide Family Connections Centre or 'hub' model. Rather, the redesigned system combines direct funding with expanded access to community-based services delivered through a broad network of existing providers across British Columbia."
The Minister said the same in the Legislature during budget estimates on March 12, 2026: "I want to clarify that we are not scaling up or rolling out family connections centres across the province."
The Family Connections Centres were piloted in four regions and evaluated by MNP LLP and SPARC BC in April 2025. The name and structure are not being rolled out. But the services being expanded look a lot like what the pilot centres offered, and they will be delivered the same way: by community agencies under contract with the Province.
What carries over
- Services are funded by the Province and delivered by contracted community agencies.
- Navigation, therapies, behaviour supports and programs for ages 6 to 18 are core services in both.
- Access is based on need, without waiting for a diagnosis.
- For children who don't get direct funding, these services are the main support available.
What the Ministry says has changed
- Services go through many existing providers, such as Child Development Centres, Indigenous service providers and community organizations, rather than one centre in each pilot region.
- Families can combine direct funding with community services. In the pilot, families eligible for Autism Funding had to choose between their funding and Family Connections Centre services.
Our concern was never about the name. It was about families relying on contracted services that the Ministry's own reviews found were not adequately monitored. Whether they are called hubs, Family Connections Centres or community-based services, the Autistic children who qualify for neither the Benefit nor the Supplement will depend on them.
Later in the same estimates debate on March 12, the Minister said families with an adjusted net income over $200,000 "will be supported in our community-based programming." When MLA Gasper followed up about families who, in her words, "go to the hubs," the Minister answered by describing the community-based services investment, and said those programs are "very beneficial, particularly for children who have an Autism diagnosis that have more moderate needs who may not be captured in the supplement in ways that they were receiving direct funding before."
The reply doesn't say how the quality of those services will be independently checked.
Prince Rupert, the pilot our letter described, is not mentioned in the reply. Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii was one of the four pilot regions, along with Terrace and Kitimat, Smithers and Bulkley/Stikine, and Kelowna and Central Okanagan.
When expanded services arrive
The reply says the $80 million expansion "represents an increase in service capacity and availability over time." It does not give dates. The Ministry's own published schedule does:
Our letter raised this: for a school-aged Autistic child who qualifies for neither the Benefit nor the Supplement, expanded programming for their age group is scheduled to arrive a year after Autism Funding ends. The reply doesn't respond to that timing. It says families "will continue to have access to existing community-based services during this period," and, on rural, remote and Indigenous communities, that many providers use "outreach, virtual supports, and partnerships with local organizations."
Accreditation
"Community based services organizations receiving funding above the accreditation threshold, like Child Development Centres, are required to maintain accreditation and are monitored for compliance with accreditation requirements. The Ministry is not aware of any Child Development Centres receiving funding above the accreditation threshold that are operating outside of accreditation requirements."
This answers the question for Child Development Centres. Our letter asked about all contracted providers serving vulnerable people. Providers below the threshold are not required to be accredited, and the reply does not say how many providers that is, or how their quality is checked beyond contract monitoring.
Who checks the quality of private providers
The reply is direct about how Autism Funding works today:
"The Registry is intended to support family choice and access to qualified professionals and is not a contract management or accreditation mechanism. The Ministry does not directly manage the quality of services delivered by individual providers selected by families through the Autism Funding Program."
The RASP is a list of professionals who have the education and experience to offer programs for Autistic children. To be listed, professionals must show they have experience serving Autistic children under the age of six. It is maintained by ACT (Autism Community Training) on behalf of the Ministry.
Families of children under 6 must choose their behaviour consultant, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist and physiotherapist from the RASP. Families of children aged 6 to 18 can also use RASP professionals, but aren't required to. The reply mentions the RASP only in connection with the Under Age 6 program.
It adds that the Disability Benefit "continues the principle of providing direct funding to families to support individualized decision-making, flexibility, and family choice." In other words, families who receive the Benefit will keep choosing their own providers, as they do now. Families who receive neither the Benefit nor the Supplement will rely on community-based services, which are the contracted part of the system our letter was about.
Audits and costs
The 2019 Auditor General audit
The reply notes that the June 2019 audit "focused on oversight of contracted residential services for children and youth in care." It says the Ministry accepted all recommendations and has been implementing the SHSS model, with new contract approaches, service standards, monitoring and quality assurance.
"While some recommendations remain in progress, implementation of broad systemic recommendations often involves extensive consultation, policy development, service redesign, training, procurement activities, and operational change. Progress on systemic change is not always linear."
The reply adds that Acting Auditor General Sheila Dodds told the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts that the audit was comprehensive and the recommendations would take time.
The Auditor General's October 2025 follow-up report lists one of the four recommendations as fully implemented as of March 31, 2025. Our letter acknowledged the SHSS work in that report: 103 of about 450 residential contracts had moved to new standardized agreements by March 31, 2025. The reply does not dispute the count and does not give dates for the other three recommendations.
Ernst & Young, 2019
The reply says the Ernst & Young Contract Management Review "acknowledged that some program areas had more established processes than others." Our letter said the same: the review named Autism as an area where practice was comparatively stronger. Our concern was the move into contracted community services beyond those areas. The reply doesn't address the review's overall rating of the Ministry's contract management as "Developing," the second-lowest of five levels. It also explains that Autism Funding is a direct funding program, so it "operates differently from contracted service delivery models."
The Internal Audit and Advisory Services assessment
The reply notes that the May 2025 Financial Risk Assessment "examined professional services contracts across multiple ministries and was not specific to Children and Youth with Support Needs services." Our letter made the same point and did not apply its percentages to CYSN contracts. We cited it as evidence of a government-wide pattern.
Residential care costs
Our letter set the median cost of a contracted residential placement for a child with support needs ($137,087 a year, up to $228,749 in North East Fraser) beside Autism Funding of $6,000 to $22,000 a year. The reply says these "serve different purposes and are not directly comparable measures of support."
We agree they are different. Our letter said so: "We are not claiming a direct causal chain between these populations." Our point was about accountability. One is family-managed funding; the other is a contracted system the Ministry's own reviews found was not adequately monitored. The reply responds on comparability and on the SHSS model, but not on that contrast.
On four points the reply and our letter say the same thing: the 2019 audit covered residential services; Autism was a stronger area in the Ernst & Young review; the Internal Audit assessment was not CYSN-specific; and residential costs are not a cause or a measure of family funding. The questions still open are about timelines, verification and the families who will rely on community services.
Since June 17
The timeline in the reply
The reply does not describe any bridge for families moving from Autism Funding to the Supplement. Our letter described a gap of at least three months. The Supplement is paid with the BC Family Benefit, around the 20th of the month, so the first payment lands in mid-July. See the 3.5-month funding gap and our Supplement calculator.
The Child and Youth Well-Being Action Plan
Our letter asked for public disclosure of the cross-ministry well-being plan. The Province has published the Child and Youth Well-Being Action Plan and Outcomes Framework, both dated June 2026. The reply does not refer to them.
Disability Benefit eligibility
The reply says Benefit eligibility depends on "the nature, intensity, persistence, and impact" of a child's needs. The Ministry has published an eligibility table (updated August 14, 2026). Our eligibility criteria page sets out what it says.
- How many Autistic children are projected to receive the Benefit, the Supplement, or neither?
- When will the three outstanding 2019 Auditor General recommendations be completed?
- What happened for families in Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii, and what was learned?
- What support is there for families between March 31 and the first Supplement payment?
- What will school-aged children who qualify for neither program receive before Spring 2028?
Sources
- Ministry of Children and Family Development, letter from the Honourable Jodie Wickens, Minister, June 17, 2026 (Ref. 309840), with Appendix A: Response to Issues Raised in Correspondence Dated April 26, 2026. Quotations are from the letter; we have capitalized Autism in line with our style. Personal information has been removed from our posted copy.
- Fair Autism & Disability Funding BC, letter to the Minister of Children and Family Development and full evidentiary letter, April 26, 2026: implementation capacity and Ministry oversight.
- Ministry of Children and Family Development, Children and Youth with Support Needs Announcement FAQ, February 2026, p. 10.
- Province of BC, Commonly Asked Questions for families eligible for Autism Funding (August 11, 2026 update): DTC form fees, up to $300 from the Travel, Training and Equipment budget; open cases and participation figures.
- Province of BC, Children and Youth with Support Needs web page (August 2026) and Expansion of Community Based Services: phased timeline for expanded services.
- Province of BC, Child and Youth Well-Being Action Plan and Outcomes Framework, June 2026.
- MNP LLP and SPARC BC, Evaluation of Piloted Changes to CYSN Services: Final Evaluation Report, April 2025.
- Legislative Assembly of BC, Official Report of Debates (Hansard), March 12, 2026, afternoon sitting, Committee of Supply estimates for the Ministry of Children and Family Development (pilot communities, 1:20 p.m.; family connections centres, 1:25 p.m., p. 5884; community-based programming, about 3:00 p.m.).
- Office of the Auditor General of BC, Oversight of Contracted Residential Services for Children and Youth in Care, June 2019; and Annual Follow-up Report: Status of Performance Audit Recommendations (2019 to 2023), October 2025.
- Ministry of Children and Family Development, Eligibility for Autism Programs policy (effective November 1, 2009), section 5.5: Registry of Autism Service Providers.
- Ernst & Young, MCFD Contract Management Review: Current State Assessment, October 2019.
- Internal Audit and Advisory Services, Financial Risk Assessment: Professional Services Contracts, May 2025.