By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Children shouldn’t grow up in an office.
But that’s what’s happening at Linck Child, Youth and Family Supports for youngsters who are falling through the cracks.
According to the executive director of the child protection agency, eight children have lived at the Chatham facility, and one, who stayed for four months, was only seven years old.
“The reality has been that for the last four years, we’ve been sheltering children in our building,” Teri Thomas-Vanos explained to media recently. “This is an office building. It’s a place of business…it’s not a place to raise a child.”
The children who found themselves staying at Linck have complex needs which can’t be managed by caregivers or the foster system. Thomas-Vanos said the affected youngsters need residential treatment. That isn’t available in either Windsor or Chatham, and youngsters must relocate to London or beyond to access the needed care.
Initially, Thomas-Vanos said Linck was sheltering an adolescent population – but the age of the children needing residential treatment is getting younger.
That concerns her.
“Tragically, that age has been declining,” she said. “We had a 10 year old in this building for over 10 months. This year, we’ve had a seven year old for four months. “It’s not okay. We’re not a residential facility.”
And while the children’s problems cover a wide range of mental and behavioural disorders, they have one thing in common – a traumatic history, Thomas-Vanos said.
The dilemma of caring for these youngsters is stressful for staff who aren’t specifically trained to handle complex needs.
“We’ve had to ask people, we had to make people work shifts they weren’t prepared to do or equipped to do, and they did it,” she said. “Our staff are heroes.”
Solving the problem will require capital and resources, Thomas-Vanos added. Caring for these children around the clock is expensive, she said, adding she knows of one incidence where it cost $1 million to care for a single child for one year.
Thomas-Vanos said the needs of the troubled children can’t be met until they experience a period of stability.
“The right care at the right time in the right place is always in their best interest,” the executive director said, adding they need an “extensive period of intensive treatment” in order to stabilize and regain their wellness. “Having a random response doesn’t expedite their healing.”
A forced move away from Chatham-Kent to get help is hard on both the children and their families, she said, as the best care plan includes family members.
“We know that kids do better when their caregivers do better,” she said.
Thomas-Vanos said both Chatham-Kent–Leamington MPP Trevor Jones and Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault are aware of the problem and are looking to help.
Jones met with one of the children, she said, and he also brought Minister of Community and Social Services Michael Parsa to visit Linck.
“The good news is that some of the kids did get the help they needed and were able to return home,” Thomas-Vanos stated.
“But it’s been gruelling for our staff,” she concluded, noting the issue has contributed to the agency’s $3-million deficit. Currently Linck is working with the province to manage its debt.
The difficulty in housing troubled children is not unique to Chatham-Kent, as the matter is currently the subject of an Ontario Ombudsman probe.
Ontario is facing a severe shortage of residential treatment spaces, forcing children and youth to wait in less-than-ideal spots, such as hotels.
Linck officials and the foundation are working on local solutions, including purchasing a property in Blenheim and possibly setting up a tiny home complex.
