Current
Campaign

An act respecting early learning & child care

Brenda gives testimony (starts at 11:43) to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology with regards to the need to strengthen Bill C 35 by embedding the UNCRPD in the Purpose of the Bill.  We had the privilege of testifying alongside Krista Carr from Inclusion Canada.  Our recommendations were not integrated into the bill but we continue to work together to influence disability inclusion in child care across the country.

MCFD CYSN Symposium 2023

Children with Medical Complexity: Growing in Number and Support Needs

Dr. Esther Lee from Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and BC Children’s Hospital Complex Care Program and Brenda Lenahan from BC Complex Kids discuss the growing literature around Children with Medical Complexity (CMC) and how to use this literature to expand advocacy efforts.

Nursing Support Services: Families need support, now! Campaign (2023)

Many families are experiencing challenges in navigating and accessing nursing support for their children with Nursing Support Services(NSS), provided by the Ministry of Health. As families pleas for help grew, this advocacy campaign was sparked. As a result of our campaign NSS is currently under an external review to determine the gaps in its program as it currently functions. 

Please check back to view the final report.

Huma Submission on Bill C-35 - An act respecting early learning & child care (2023)

The federal government introduced a child care bill that has the intent to guide the building of a national, universal child care system.  We know that strong policy is foundational to the delivery of universal child care and our concerns about the strength of the bill lead us to make a submission while this bill was studied by the HUMA committee. 

BC Budget 2024 Consultations (2023)

Read the transcript of Brenda Lenahan’s oral presentation to the Legislative Assembly of BC advocating for fully funding care support (child care, nursing support and respite), a caregiver benefit recognizing the unpaid work of being a full time caregiver, and robust funding for accessible vehicles and homes. 

Link to written submission

BC Poverty Reduction Strategy Submission (2023)

The Ministry for Social Development & Poverty Reduction made a call for submissions to inform an updated strategy.  We answered that call with several recommendations on areas of government support that are failing families and forcing so many of us into a lifetime of financial instability and poverty.  The updated strategy unfortunately fell short and did not include any meaningful policy targets related to the needs of our families. 

Link to written submission

Representative for Children & Youth (RCY) Mandate Review

Presentation (read the transcript pg 199-200) to the Select Standing Committee for Children & Youth (2022)

In 2022, RCY went through a statutory mandate review and BCCK took the opportunity to share our thoughts regarding the work of RCY and areas that we would like to see their mandate expanded in order to better capture the cross ministry issues in education, child care and health care (specifically NSS) so that RCY would be able to advocate for individuals and monitor systemically in these areas. The committee’s final recommendations mirrored some of our recommendations but we have yet to see these changes made.  

Link to written submission

BC Budget 2023 Consultations (2022)

In 2022 we continued the call for income support for our families by asking for a $2200 per month Caregiver Benefit.  While this recommendation was not acted on, we did get the increase to School Aged Extended Therapy funding that we asked for as well as an updated medical equipment funding model.  

Link to written submission

BC Budget 2022 Recommendations

BC Budget 2021 Submission (2020)

In 2020, we made our inaugural budget submission to the provincial government asking for them to create a basic income for families raising medically complex kids in BC while also investing in the At Home Program to alleviate the financial burdens our families face.

Link to written submission

Nursing Support Services Recommendations (2019)

After the initial set of recommendations specific to the At Home Program, it became evident that another set of recommendations was needed to specifically address the shortfalls of the Nursing Support Services program.

Link to recommendations document

At Home Program Recommendations (2019)

Families started gathering on our “BC Parents of Complex Kids” Facebook page in March 2017 with the common denominator of raising children who qualified for the At Home Program. It became clear that the program was not adequately meeting the needs of this population and so a few of us came together to create this initial set of recommendations in hopes to spark policy changes.

Link to recommendations document