THUNDER BAY -- Those who advocate for children's mental health aren't surprised with the Auditor General of Ontario's dismal diagnosis of the province's system meant to address it. They're worried the suggested cure could hurt quality of care as much as the system's current "chronic underfunding.'
A report the provincial auditor issued Thursday found children and youth were waiting up to 18 months for treatment, exposing there are over over 9,000 children with serious mental illnesses who are waiting for treatment.
While it found the rate of young people admitting to hospital for mental health concerns had doubled since 2008, it found no cohesive response to the need and expressed no confidence in oversight from case to system planning levels.
Children's Care Thunder Bay chief executive officer Diane Walker supported the reports findings but has little faith in the changes it proposes. Walker argued any funding influx would disappear into bureaucracy.
"What I actually see happening if there's an investment of money and funding in the organizations and in the system is that we'll have to take money away from direct services – kids and families – in order to fund the initatives, in order to fund the data management, in order to do the performance oversight, in order to do the things they’re asking us to do As we move on these recommendations, where does the money come from? It comes from frontline services," she said.
Children's Mental Health Ontario is calling for service standardization but Walker cautioned against a population-based model of prescribing funding versus one based on need. Northwestern Ontario's youth suicide rate is the province's highest. Its early development score is the lowest.
While services lag behind the demand in Thunder Bay, they are virtually non-existent in most regional communities.
Walker called the system "chronically underfunded," arguing despite the spike in mental health issues among youth, funding has flatlined as costs have increased over the last two decades.
"I know the government has a tight budget and a lot of things are going on financially for Ontario but I really believe this sector has been so chronically underfunded that if we don’t get an investment of money in our sector, we’re not going to be able to live up to the recommendations the AG put forth.”
