Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak about the challenges faced by families with special needs children. The education system, classroom assistants and special needs assistants support the education and care of these children while they are of school age and during school hours. However, Mr. Speaker, there are many other times during which these families need support, for which there are few resources, services or respite. Many parents who have children with disabilities do not have the luxury of not working outside their homes. They often hold down full-time employment, some being required to work evenings or weekends. They often have other children in the family as well.
Depending on the degree of special care required, just running errands or grocery shopping presents a challenge if there is not a support network or other family members able to assist. These circumstances can place serious stress on parents, or the entire family unit for that matter. Sometimes these circumstances exist for a number of years, and we have all heard of some of the tragic results reported recently in the media of families who took drastic measures in the state of prolonged periods of time without support.
It is interesting that governments will so readily split families up by placing special needs children in very costly institutional settings, or pay for foster care placements where they will support a foster family up to $90 per day but will offer so little or no support to families struggling on their own. There are also often significant financial stresses for things such as supplies required to care for their children.
We need to find more ways to support families who devote all of their time and affection to raising their disabled children in their own homes. Later I will have questions for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services on the kind of support we can offer as a government. Thank you.
-- Applause