A paltry 1200 bucks!

[flamingfingers]

One MLA's lunch money for a month!!

B.C. gov't reneges on ex-premier’s letter pledging education funding to adoptive child


By CASSIDY OLIVIER, THE PROVINCE December 2, 2014

When the letter from the Premier’s Office arrived that day in January 2008, Leanne and Rich Morton couldn’t believe their luck.

Still glowing from the recent adoption of their baby boy, Brayan, the Mortons, who live in the Shuswap area of the Interior, were elated to learn that the provincial government was going to contribute $1,000 to their son’s education under the Children’s Education Fund.

The fund, which has since been replaced by a new program, was created by then-premier Gordon Campbell. It was Campbell’s face that smiled back at them when they opened the letter that bore the heading: Message from the Premier.
“Congratulation on the adoption of your baby!” the letter said. “I know you are going to have amazing memories as you see your baby’s first smile, watch the first step and hear the first word.”

The letter went on to explain that under the program, “every child born or adopted in B.C. from January 1, 2007 and beyond” was eligible for the money, which would accumulate interest and “grow from now until your child graduates from high school.”

“What an exciting time lies ahead of you,” wrote Campbell in the sign-off. “The Children’s Education Fund contribution to your baby’s future is one way that everyone in the province is saying to you and your baby, CONGRATULATIONS.”

For the Mortons, who had never even heard of the fund, the letter offered further reason to celebrate this exciting new chapter of their lives.

“It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise — out of the blue,” Leanne Morton told The Province in an email Monday. “I thought how lucky we were — it would be a really nice way to kick-start Brayan’s education fund.”

Fast forward to the present day, and the Mortons are faced with another surprise that isn’t so pleasant.

As it turned out, the letter was sent in “error” and Brayan, who was born in August of 2006 but adopted in April of 2007, didn’t actually qualify for the program or its predecessor, the B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant (BCTESG), which the government announced in 2012.

Funds from the old program were transitioned into the new program, which provides a one-time grant of $1,200 to be contributed to an RESP account. As in the old program, eligibility is based on children being born on or after Jan. 1, 2007, according to a Ministry of Education spokesman.

The eligibility criteria are the same for children who are adopted, meaning it is their birthdate, not when they were adopted, that counts, the spokesman said.

It was upon learning of the new training and savings grant that Leanne eventually found out that Brayan had never actually been registered under the old program and that the letter she received had been sent out in error — this despite the language in the letter saying the family qualified.

“They (the Ministry of Education) acknowledged the letter and they seemed to know about it, but they just said, ‘Oh, that was a mistake,’ ” she said.

“They got back to me in a timely fashion, that kind of thing, but they kept kind of saying, ‘Well, the legislation says he doesn’t qualify and basically they stopped acknowledging the letter or wanting to do anything about that … I just think, gosh, it is frustrating. I think, where is the integrity in that letter?”

While the Mortons, who are self-employed health practitioners, have other education savings plans in place, they still feel that the original promise should be honoured — a sentiment shared by NDP education critic Rob Fleming.

“I feel for this family,” Fleming said. “It is just plain wrong, even cruel, to get a personal letter from the former premier, only to have Christy Clark’s current Liberal crew renege on it a few years later.

“This is an official letter of contribution for their child’s education, not some piece of junk mail. The government should try and resolve this fairly and immediately.”

Due to privacy issues, the ministry couldn’t speak to the details of the case. They said the criteria for the grant is written into legislation, so it would be unlikely that the decision would be reversed.

“It sounds like, unfortunately, their child didn’t meet the criteria,” the spokesman said, adding the ministry is not aware of any other letters that went out in error. “Every effort was made to send the letters out to the parents deemed eligible.”

[email protected]