There have been good things happening. In fact, we know what to do. I think that's the most important thing to say first off. We have access to the best information, the best research, and we have good clinicians who can help with services and supports in Ontario. The investments have been significant in the province, and we're grateful for that. Those are distributed across the nine regions. But what happens for families is they experience the system in pieces, and they have to constantly be cobbling together supports and services in a timely fashion for their kids when they need it.
I would say that the idea of seamless supports seems so elusive. The nature of autism is that it changes across the lifespan, so it's not a one-shot thing ever; it's multi-faceted. We need various ministries working together, so that the experience of families is not one where they're having to knock on 30 doors to get one answer for the situation they're facing today, as well as the situations that are going to continue to change across the lifespan. But we do need to invest more, because there are more kids.
As I was saying earlier in comments about those families in those early years, not receiving those services is so disheartening. When we say we want to support those caregivers, they need access to those services in a timely fashion, and they need a response to the nature of autism spectrum disorders as they are uniquely represented by each child, each adult. Then there's also caring for the caregiver. The parents bear an enormous burden in having to take the responsibility of being case managers, in addition to 20 other hats they wear on a given day.
I would also say they need additional supports to help them be families to their kids, to help them be effective in getting the services their children need, and in not having to pay out of pocket, which many families do. They go bankrupt in their efforts to get those services and supports and intervention strategies.