Dear sir:
A while back, there was some concern about how many of our young people were leaving our community for better paying jobs. We know of this first-hand as our two sons have left Fort Frances for jobs and school.
We also are the parents of a developmentally-challenged young adult. We hope she will be able to leave home someday, also. Our goal for her was to have her in an apartment with 24-hour care here in Fort Frances.
Well, we are having difficulty in this endeavour. We are informed there is no funding here for this fundamental service. We may have to place her in another community that is more than two hours away in order for her to receive this service.
This will be a hardship on the whole family as we will not be able to see her as often or monitor her medical condition. She also will miss her family a great deal.
It is one thing for an able-bodied young adult to leave the family and their home–they can take care of themselves and call home if they get into trouble. It is quite another when a young disabled adult, who cannot speak for herself, is forced into moving away from all that she knows and loves because there is no funding available to keep her in her own community.
CBC Radio will air a program on the challenges that are facing our young challenged adults in our community. It will air on Sunday, March 11 between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Signed,
Peter and Linda
York and family
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
