02/24/2026
Children and Youth with Support Needs (CYSN) Announcement on February 10, 2026
Dear BC Complex Kids community,
It has been a dynamic week for families raising children with disabilities in BC, as we learned of new provincial programs for children and youth with support needs. We, the team at BC Complex Kids Society (BCCKS), have intentionally taken time to absorb the news, review the associated documents, and seek clarifications from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD).
In January 2025, BCCKS submitted our report, Beyond Survival, to the Ministry with the understanding that we would be engaged after they had a chance to compile the broader stakeholder engagements and draft a new framework for review. Unfortunately, that did not occur. We were not included in the work undertaken over the past 12 months.
We are now in active conversations with the Ministry to obtain answers, voice our concerns, and collaborate in the months ahead as details for these new programs are refined. There is significant work to be done, and the Ministry has acknowledged this with us.
We have received a clear message that many aspects of the new programs have not yet been finalized. We are told that the documents released to date are intended to serve as “building blocks” to inform funding investments, a necessary step prior to the public announcement.
While we are disappointed that many critical stakeholder voices, including ours, were not included directly in this foundational work, we are ready to move forward constructively. We know our voices of lived expertise, and those of our community, are essential for this to be a more family-centred, trauma-informed, and equitable system.
There are positive elements to the announced changes, including commitments to flexibility and family choice with the Disability Benefit, which we celebrate as reflections of our collective advocacy over the past several years. We welcome the new Disability Supplement which will serve as an income support for families who need it the most. And we are supportive of the inclusion of funding and support for children with disabilities who have historically been excluded. At the same time, we are not ready to endorse the new programs as they currently stand. We have significant concerns about areas of inequity, yet remain hopeful that these can be addressed through continued engagement.
While we have sought and received some answers to initial questions, there remain contradictions and discrepancies between what we are being told directly by Ministry staff, what we are reading in the documentation released, and in some cases what families are hearing from CYSN workers. Rather than release more details that may not be finalized or factual, we are waiting to share further clarifications with you all.
We, at BC Complex Kids Society, intend to move forward with a focus on working with the Ministry to ensure our collective lived expertise is embedded in the final rollout of a more equitable, family-centred and trauma-informed system.
While many questions and discrepancies remain in the circulating information, we believe it is time to shift our focus from seeking further clarification–particularly as the Ministry has acknowledged that there is work to be done–and move toward developing recommendations. To support this effort, we will be gathering feedback from our community on specific areas of concern.
We stand firm with our mission at BC Complex Kids Society, to advocate for equitable and meaningful support for families raising children with both disabilities and complex health needs in BC.
With hope and determination,
Brenda Lenahan
Executive Director
Laesa Kim
Board President & Chair
Link to Beyond Survival: Recommendations for Transforming Support Systems for Children & Youth with Medical Complexity and Their Families in British Columbia
https://www.bccomplexkids.ca/advocacy
Link to new program information:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/managing-your-health/child-behaviour-development/support-needs
