Agency claims repeated tries to house disabled teen
Man's former foster parent disputes account of Community Living B.C.
Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, January 25, 2008A B.C. government agency says it has tried repeatedly to help a 19-year-old developmentally disabled man who has at times been left to roam the streets on Vancouver Island.
In response to a recent series of Times Colonist stories and editorials, Community Living B.C. issued a statement saying it has explored more than a dozen housing options that met resistance from the young man or his advocates.
CLBC says the man left a temporary group home last year after one month to stay with friends in a neighbouring community.
"The individual is an adult and, as much as we might agree that an individual may make choices that do not appear in their best interest, CLBC has no authority to compel an adult to accept its offered supports and services," Roz Ingram, acting director of communications, said in the release.
The agency's account, however, is disputed by the former foster parent on whose doorstep the 19-year-old arrived two months ago.
Michael Steele, who looked after the man as a child, has been housing him since late November while pressing CLBC to find him a permanent home.
"If a dozen housing options have been explored, CLBC has failed to communicate them to either [the man] or his advocates," Steele said. "I am aware of six." Those include a temporary group home, one caregiver placement that failed and four other cases in which the group homes or caregivers refused to accept the man, who suffers from a range of problems including fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Steele said.
In the case of the failed group home, Steele said it was a youth facility designed for brief stays and located some distance from the community in which the man grew up. The young man was told the placement would be temporary, but he became increasingly frustrated the longer he stayed.
"The notion that [the young man] has refused and continues to refuse offered CLBC services is a myth which CLBC's representatives have tried to float from time to time," Steele said.
He pointed to the fact the young man has stayed with him for two months, while regularly attending a day program as proof he can thrive if given the proper support.
In its statement, CLBC also challenged the TC's characterization of the man as having the mental capacity of a six-year-old.
"A developmental age generally applies to one aspect of a person's life," Ingram writes. "However, when a developmental age is generalized to the whole person this can be misleading. Every individual has a range of skills and abilities that will be at different levels."
CLBC argues that the young man in this case can speak, makes his wishes known in writing, has friends, attends vocational training and gets around on his own.
The TC based its stories on a court report that quoted a registered psychologist as stating that "except for gross motor skills, in most areas of independent function, [his] age equivalent range is at about the six-year level."
Elsewhere, in the same report, the authors says that a consistent theme emerged in interviews with officials and caregivers that the young man "functions at an age of approximately six to eight years, is extremely sensitive to peer interactions, is unable to self-monitor his behaviours, and is incapable of living independently."
NDP children's critic Nicholas Simons, who has also been advocating for the man, accused CLBC of "splitting hairs" instead of dealing with the issues.
"Everyone involved will tell you that whether he's got the capacity of a six-year-old or a 10-year-old, the fact remains that he needs 24-hour supervision for his safety and for the safety of the community."
lkines@tc.canwest.com
