Cosgrove delighted that funding for Brittany is safe
The MP for Waimakariri Clayton Cosgrove is pleased that the National Government is backing down on its plans to cut therapy funding for special needs children currently receiving physical therapy assistance, meaning that 12-year-old Kaiapoi school student Brittany Graham should be able to continue her schooling.
“The campaign against the proposed funding cut was always about children like Brittany, who has cerebral palsy. Brittany became a poster girl for this campaign when her mother Julie Baker showed a great deal of courage in going public on this issue,” Mr Cosgrove said.
Mr Cosgrove repeatedly raised her case in Parliament to highlight the injustice of this funding cut.
“Anyone aware of Brittany’s situation knew how dire and cruel the funding cut would have been. The therapy has allowed Brittany to stand for the first time using a ladder, but she may well have been unable to remain at school if the funding had been cut,” Mr Cosgrove said.
Mr Cosgrove said that while the Government had been forced into ‘a humiliating back down’, it still had real questions to answer about why the $2.5 million special therapy funding cut was planned in the first place and why the government is now planning to grandparent the funding away,” Mr Cosgrove said.
“The planned funding cut was inhumane and callous, and National needs to tell us why families already under stress have been placed under more stress? What level of compassion has Education Minister Anne Tolley shown in creating such additional fear and apprehension for these families?
“The answer is none at all. Anne Tolley and every other National MP should be ashamed that they even considered the funding cut, let alone planned to go through with it.” Mr Cosgrove said.
“We have won the first and most important battle to keep the funding for children who currently receive it, but the Minister has callously said to children who may need this funding in the future that funding will no longer be available to them if they are not already receiving physical therapy treatment. Also, if a child currently receiving funding is forced to change schools then their physical therapy funding will be automatically terminated. How is that fair? (Note: Please see letter from Education Minister to School Principals attached) Mr Cosgrove said.
Mr Cosgrove said while he was pleased children already receiving therapy funding would continue to do so, he believed other children with special needs should also be eligible for similar therapy funding in the future.
“I will continue to campaign for the interests of children with special needs like Brittany because I firmly believe that the children who may need this funding in the future deserve to be supported and that their families deserve a fair go,” Mr Cosgrove said.
