Refugee claimant hits roadblocks getting disabled child's care

By Louise Kinross

I'm delighted to introduce the latest in our A Family Like Mine video series.

Meet Ola Atanda and her three kids: Bolu, 15, Abby, 7, and Rahmat Beverly, 19 months, who has cerebral palsy. The family, originally from Nigeria, has been living in a Toronto shelter for almost two years as Ola seeks refugee status. Ola is attending high school with hopes of going on to university to become a social worker.

Ola says her greatest challenge is getting Rahmat’s health needs met. “I’m having great issues with my Ontario Works case worker,” she says. “She never wants to approve any of her medical needs.” For example, she wouldn’t approve Rahmat’s feeding machine. “She’s a sick baby, a disabled child diagnosed with about six things…what do you want to see that could make her…eligible?”

Ola says her two boys get good medical care with their interim health card, which covers refugees without status. “I think the reason why I’m having this problem is because she’s a child with special needs.”

Check out all of our A Family Like Mine videos.

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'We just fell in love with her at first sight'

Catherine and Trish Emmons and daughter Priscilla, 3, are the focus of our new A Family Like Mine video.

Priscilla, known as Cilla, was born dependent on drugs to a mother who couldn't care for her. She spent her first month in the neonatal intensive care unit in pain, on morphine, inconsolable. At nine months, Trish and Catherine adopted her.

"When we first brought her home, we noticed that she would have huge temper tantrums when we would leave her," Catherine recalls. "And I don't mean by leaving the house. I mean she would be in the living room and we'd get up to get a cup of coffee and she would start having a temper tantrum because she was so distraught that you were going to leave her. Because a lot of people don't realize that kids, babies, suffer loss. They think 'Oh, they don't remember.' But at that point she'd already suffered from two major losses. One from her birth mom, and one from her foster mom."

This is a remarkable family with great insights on parenting, adoption and celebrating differences. Thank you to social worker Barb Germon for suggesting them.

A Family Like Mine is a video series about diverse families raising children with disabilities. It's incorporated into the curriculum for second and third year medical students at the University of Toronto.

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'The children that we have ... they're just as human'

I am so excited to introduce you to Samadhi Mora-Severino, an extraordinary mother, student and advocate for people with disabilities. Samadhi is mom to Ethan, 6, and Kian, 4, who has cerebral palsy. Her family is the focus of our new A Family Like Mine video and one you won't quickly forget!

A Family Like Mine is a video series about diverse families raising children with disabilities produced by BLOOM, Holland Bloorview's parenting blog. Check out the five videos on our playlist. They are closed-captioned.

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