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Globe and Mail
Feud over cash leaves soldiers' children waiting for special care
Petawawa families coping with stress, anxiety disorders as Ottawa, Ontario squabble over who's responsible for bill
By ALEX DOBROTA
Thursday, March 1, 2007 – Page A1
OTTAWA -- More than 40 children of soldiers serving in Afghanistan who suffered mental trauma in their parents' absence are being denied therapists as the provincial and federal governments squabble over who should pay.
The children must wait as long as four months to receive care for conditions ranging from attention deficit disorder to anxiety and suicidal thoughts, Ontario mental health professionals said yesterday at a news conference.
"I see them as invisible children," said Greg Lubimiv, a therapist and the executive director of the Phoenix Centre for Children and Families, which serves Renfrew County, including CFB Petawawa.
"They're invisible to politicians, they're invisible to the bureaucrats and they're invisible to the community."
Since last year, when Canadian soldiers started fighting and dying in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, about 90 military families sought help at the Phoenix Centre, up from 10 in 2005.
The surge has stretched the resources of the already underfinanced centre and has increased the average wait to see a therapist to about four months, Mr. Lubimiv said.
He said he petitioned both Queen's Park and Ottawa for more funds. But so far, his requests have fallen on deaf ears, as the two governments are pointing at each other.
The Department of National Defence looks after the mental and physical health care of soldiers only, said Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Rundle, commander of CFB Petawawa.
"There's no mandate to provide these services to the family members," Col. Rundle said.
Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario's Minister of Children and Youth Services, said she is not willing to clean up the damage wrought by a federal venture. "It's a direct consequence of federal government initiatives," she said.
Ms. Chambers said she raised the budget for children's mental health care to $467-million, a $38-million increase since 2004, when the Liberal government came into office in Ontario.
But Mr. Lubimiv said this translated into only a 3-per-cent increase in his centre's $1.5-million budget, not nearly enough to cover the surge in demands for assistance since last year.
"If they want to squabble, give the money and then fight with the [federal] government if you want to get it back," Mr. Lubimiv said. "The children have been politicized in this and, in the end, they're not getting the service that they need."
A spokesperson for federal Health Minister Tony Clement said he is ready to talk to his provincial counterpart, but reiterated that mental health care is a provincial responsibility.
With no resolution in sight and with more than 500 soldiers from Petawawa set to deploy in Afghanistan soon, parents on the base are starting to lose patience.
"We're being told to wait, but with the wait there are more problems," said Cindy Patry, who lives on the base with her eight-year-old daughter and her six-year-old twins.
Ms. Patry decided to seek psychological help for her son, Daniel, as she tucked him into bed last January, days after her husband returned to Afghanistan to complete his tour of duty.
That night, in a rare moment of respite from the daily bouts of screaming and crying that had turned the family home into a battlefield during his father's absence, Daniel looked at his mother and quietly said: "Mommy, I don't want Daddy to die."
Within weeks, Ms. Patry was talking to a therapist at the Phoenix Centre. Her case was judged a "crisis" and was treated faster than most, as Daniel's aggressiveness and mood swings had reached a point of no return.
"I didn't know where to go any more," the mother said.
Frank Patry, a corporal with Petawawa's 2 Service Battalion, had left for Afghanistan in August and served there when Canadian troops attacked the Taliban in Operation Medusa, suffering heavy casualties.
Talk of death and injury trickled into Daniel's classroom. And Cpl. Patry, who finished his tour of duty unharmed, returned home last Thursday to discover the damage the war had wrought on his family.
"It's kind of frustrating," he said yesterday. "I get all the help I need and it seems that you have to fight to get help for your family, which is not right."
edited to fix spelling in title
Feud over cash leaves soldiers' children waiting for special care
Petawawa families coping with stress, anxiety disorders as Ottawa, Ontario squabble over who's responsible for bill
By ALEX DOBROTA
Thursday, March 1, 2007 – Page A1
OTTAWA -- More than 40 children of soldiers serving in Afghanistan who suffered mental trauma in their parents' absence are being denied therapists as the provincial and federal governments squabble over who should pay.
The children must wait as long as four months to receive care for conditions ranging from attention deficit disorder to anxiety and suicidal thoughts, Ontario mental health professionals said yesterday at a news conference.
"I see them as invisible children," said Greg Lubimiv, a therapist and the executive director of the Phoenix Centre for Children and Families, which serves Renfrew County, including CFB Petawawa.
"They're invisible to politicians, they're invisible to the bureaucrats and they're invisible to the community."
Since last year, when Canadian soldiers started fighting and dying in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, about 90 military families sought help at the Phoenix Centre, up from 10 in 2005.
The surge has stretched the resources of the already underfinanced centre and has increased the average wait to see a therapist to about four months, Mr. Lubimiv said.
He said he petitioned both Queen's Park and Ottawa for more funds. But so far, his requests have fallen on deaf ears, as the two governments are pointing at each other.
The Department of National Defence looks after the mental and physical health care of soldiers only, said Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Rundle, commander of CFB Petawawa.
"There's no mandate to provide these services to the family members," Col. Rundle said.
Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario's Minister of Children and Youth Services, said she is not willing to clean up the damage wrought by a federal venture. "It's a direct consequence of federal government initiatives," she said.
Ms. Chambers said she raised the budget for children's mental health care to $467-million, a $38-million increase since 2004, when the Liberal government came into office in Ontario.
But Mr. Lubimiv said this translated into only a 3-per-cent increase in his centre's $1.5-million budget, not nearly enough to cover the surge in demands for assistance since last year.
"If they want to squabble, give the money and then fight with the [federal] government if you want to get it back," Mr. Lubimiv said. "The children have been politicized in this and, in the end, they're not getting the service that they need."
A spokesperson for federal Health Minister Tony Clement said he is ready to talk to his provincial counterpart, but reiterated that mental health care is a provincial responsibility.
With no resolution in sight and with more than 500 soldiers from Petawawa set to deploy in Afghanistan soon, parents on the base are starting to lose patience.
"We're being told to wait, but with the wait there are more problems," said Cindy Patry, who lives on the base with her eight-year-old daughter and her six-year-old twins.
Ms. Patry decided to seek psychological help for her son, Daniel, as she tucked him into bed last January, days after her husband returned to Afghanistan to complete his tour of duty.
That night, in a rare moment of respite from the daily bouts of screaming and crying that had turned the family home into a battlefield during his father's absence, Daniel looked at his mother and quietly said: "Mommy, I don't want Daddy to die."
Within weeks, Ms. Patry was talking to a therapist at the Phoenix Centre. Her case was judged a "crisis" and was treated faster than most, as Daniel's aggressiveness and mood swings had reached a point of no return.
"I didn't know where to go any more," the mother said.
Frank Patry, a corporal with Petawawa's 2 Service Battalion, had left for Afghanistan in August and served there when Canadian troops attacked the Taliban in Operation Medusa, suffering heavy casualties.
Talk of death and injury trickled into Daniel's classroom. And Cpl. Patry, who finished his tour of duty unharmed, returned home last Thursday to discover the damage the war had wrought on his family.
"It's kind of frustrating," he said yesterday. "I get all the help I need and it seems that you have to fight to get help for your family, which is not right."
edited to fix spelling in title