Ontario must do more to help families with violent, autistic children who are suffering in extreme conditions

An Ontario family in crisis is pleading for help. They say their autistic child is showing violent tendencies, and they are afraid of him and themselves.

“I don’t know how much longer…I can hold on to be honest,” Stephanie Serenko said. Her son Mason is eight years old and already weighs 180 pounds. “He’s just getting bigger and stronger and it’s just getting harder to deal with.”

Mason has already broken his mother’s nose twice and sent his grandmother to the hospital with a broken rib. Serenko says there is no help, and she fears that one day he will unintentionally kill her.

“It’s dangerous to be alone with him, it’s hard, it’s very hard,” Serenko said.

For another Ontario family, Serenko’s worst fears have already come true. Last year, an 18-year-old boy with Asperger’s, a form of autism, was charged the death of his mother in the Ottawa area.

In that case, mother Lisa Sharpe was reportedly scared for her son and had struggled to help him. The president of the Ontario Autism Coalition said families have suffered these extreme conditions for years.

“We hear this story quite often in our community,” says Alina Cameron. “There has never been a comprehensive program in Ontario to help families who have this level of need.”

And yet the Ford government spends more money on autism services than any other government in the history of this province. $720 million this year.

There are currently an estimated 50,000 children on the waiting list for core services, enough to fill the Rogers Centre.

“They have doubled funding for autism and tripled the waiting list for core services,” said Ontario NDP social services critic Monique Taylor. “If families don’t receive basic services at a young age, we’re seeing children like Mason now live to be eight years old and have never had a day of service.”

Mason did not receive early intervention, he was on the waiting list for services for five years and did not receive funding until January.

Cameron said the most vulnerable children are not getting what they need.

A US Centers for Disease Control study last year found that up to 26 percent of autistic children have profound needs and are at risk of self-harm. That doesn’t mean all their behavior is as extreme as Mason’s, but his family isn’t alone.

“I’m hearing from dozens of families, and those are the ones who are reaching out a lot and are scared and ashamed that they can’t cope,” Cameron said.

“I think a crisis team would be fantastic…Right now, families in this position are resorting to desperate measures, going to emergency mode and sitting down until someone helps them, then they call the police for their children.”

But Cameron is careful to give the Ford government any credit. “The extra money is fantastic, we just wish it was used in a better way.”

She worries that too much of the budget is being spent on administration, and not enough on caring for children like Mason.

“I think the current minister is trying. The fact that they want to listen is very important,” Cameron added.

CityNews requested an interview with the Minister for Children, Community and Social Services and was promised we could speak to him next week.

In a statement, the minister said there are urgent response services designed to help stabilize situations and prevent the risk of harm.

Stephanie tells CityNews she does have an emergency room worker, but he doesn’t come to her house, it’s just a one-hour phone call once a week. She said they told her they didn’t know what to do.