Crisis of care town hall

In Canada, the circle of care is broken when high-needs kids age out of the pediatric system.Supports and services they've come to depend on fall away. Parents are often left scrambling trying to fill the void.

On June 12, White Coat, Black Art hosted a taping of a specialtown hall at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) inToronto to talk about how to fix this broken circle of care.

Broadcast dates on CBCRadio One:
June 16/17:Town hall highlights on White Coat, Black Art
June 20:Town hall hour-long special,9 p.m. (9:30 p.m. NT)

• Full story: 'I can't continue to do this forever': Families with children aging out of care seek answers
  

A fewof theguests:

Dr. Yona Lunskyis the director of the Azrieli Centre for Adult Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Mental Health at CAMH.

She spoke about how gaps in services and crises impact people with disabilities and their families and the need for an intersectoral, family centred approach.

Wesley Magee-Saxton is an actor and afirst-yeartheatre student at York University, as well asan advocatefor people withdisabilities.

Wesleyis working towards his black belt in taekwondo, which he has been training in for over 12 years.

Brendon Pooranis aprincipal lawyer at PooranLaw. He alsoteaches at Osgoode Hall Law School.

He is the past-president of Community Living York South and he's a founding director of Partners for Planning.Brendon is a senior lawyer member on the Ontario Consent and Capacity Board.

Dr.JanWillemGorterisa physiatrist with trainingin children and adults with disabilities, a professor of pediatrics and Director of the CanChild Research Centre at McMaster University.

Dr. Gorter leads a transition clinic for teenagers with disabilities and their families at McMaster Children's Hospital.

Related stories:

• WHITE COAT, BLACK ART:Cake, balloons, goodbye: What happens when your special needs child ages out of the system
• WHITE COAT, BLACK ART:What it's like to have a sister with special-needs, aka Boo-Bear
• WHITE COAT, BLACK ART:'The community needs to step up' says caregiver advocate
• CBC NEWS:Special-needs youth face 'big abyss' after leaving school