Stories
SHARE YOUR STORY
Your experience matters—and it deserves to be heard.
This is a space for families and professionals to speak openly about their experiences with FSCD, in their own words. Whether your experience has been supportive, overwhelming, exhausting, life-changing, or somewhere in between, we want to hear it.
How has FSCD impacted your child, your family, and your day-to-day life? What’s working—and what isn’t? If you’re waiting, how long have you been waiting and what’s been the impact?
If you work with children with disabilities, you’re also invited to share what you’re seeing and hearing through your work.
By sharing your story, you help paint a clearer picture of what families are really going through. You help others feel less alone. And you help strengthen the call for meaningful change.
We want to hear all stories.
We’ve created two forms for you below:
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Report how long you’ve waited for FSCD. The results will be instantly updated on a tracker that will appear on our page (once we have enough submissions).
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Write about your experience so that we can share it on this page.
Read family stories about FSCD
The following quotes were submitted to Kids Can’t Wait AB or published in news coverage or the reports Too Little, Too Late: Experiences with Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) and the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate’s 2024 Special Report on Children and Youth with Disabilities.
""Parents need way more support. If I didn’t have to come back into care, I think things would have turned out way better for me."
"“We're seeing so many families burning out. We've seen families relinquish their children to the province because they just cannot manage without any support. These are the stories you hear that make you just feel like something needs to change.”"
"“We have tried everything to advocate... My husband did get a rather useless call from an FSCD manager who could provide zero timelines nor interim support. It ended up making us wonder how many staff we are paying salaries to call parents of disabled children day in & out without offering any assistance... I can only imagine how much more difficult this journey would be if we had less income, education & knowledge on our side. It makes me angry frankly.”"
"“Our experience with FSCD has been challenging and often disappointing. The limited access to critical services leaves families like ours feeling unsupported and overwhelmed... A more responsive and flexible approach would enable us to focus on our child’s development and wellbeing rather than constantly advocating for the basics.”
" “I think the process is designed to have as many people fall through the cracks as possible. English is my first language and I am highly educated. If I can’t understand the process, I’m sure it’s too confusing and convoluted for many others as well.”
"“My autistic twins have lost 3 spots in childcare settings, have been denied from many more, we finally secured a spot for both of the twins, and jumped through all the hoops demanded by FSCD, for them to say “the files have been updated we cannot give an estimated time on when you’ll be contacted by a worker if you lose your placement please let us know so [we] can note that in the file” which is exactly what will happen. I told them... that I NEED THEM in daycare due to returning to work / full time schooling... Now I face being thrown out of my programs and the financial strain of hiring someone or losing my job.”
"“I can't work because I have to take care of my son, I am not receiving any service or support. I feel . . . abandoned”
"“Impact our physical and mental health since my son [does] not sleep [the] whole night, kept awake for a few hours which cause[s] us [to be] extremely tired, [I] couldn't handle my work sometimes. My son had behaviour problem, no daycare accepted him, one of parent has to stay home to take care of him. [This] impacted our marriage as well since we disagreed with the way we treat our son at home, we need rest, need professional support to teach us how to educate my son, we need to find a daycare”
"“We are coming up to a year since my son's diagnosis, with zero financial support in place. Thousands of dollars later, he is getting the intervention he needs. Luckily, I am paid well and we are able to take these hits in the short term (though to be clear, they have had a severe impact on our life). I get physically ill thinking about families that do not have the resources available to shell out thousands a month on care, all when you are told over and over again that the first five years of your child's development are the most important. . . with respect to early intervention and the associated long-term outcomes. I don't understand why there are such severe delays in accessing FSCD funding. These delays are having massive impacts on early childhood development for a bunch of kids in need.”
"“Medical conditions worsening for me due to exhaustion and stress being sure my children get the support they need as both children require hand to hand support for dressing, bathing, brushing teeth”
"“My child is almost 18 years old and will soon be done FSCD. She has had FSCD since she was a toddler and it has been integral to our family's well being. . . . Without those services, our family would likely not be in one piece. Not only would our marriage have fallen apart, but we would have needed to find a out of home living placement for our daughter . . . . For us, the supports we have been given have not been adequate, but they have taken the edge off. Both my husband and I have made great sacrifices in our careers in order to balance her needs.”
""Our family would not be able to function without these services. My husband and I both had to take leaves from work before the funding. Three years later we are an extremely happy and well functioning family and it is due to the services we receive through FSCD funding. But we have had to fight very hard to receive every penny.”
"“As a single mother, without the FSCD agreement, I could not continue to work as a school vice principal.”
"“The importance of my FSCD program is that it provide [sic] me and my child the support he needs to become more independent and it also set strategies to help him build communication and interaction with other individuals”"