Hertzman – barriers to access

The barriers of access to programs for children’s services is an absolutely crucial issue. From the standpoint of families, there are 10 problems that we’ve identified over and over again. 

First, a program or service simply doesn’t exist in an area. Second, it may be too expensive. Third, there may be transportation barriers to getting to programs. Fourth, the programs may be offered at inconvenient times. Fifth, there can be problems of social distance between families and the providers that lead to trust barriers. Sixth, there can be language problems. Seventh, there can be problems of system fragmentation so that you can’t get your kids all the places that you need to get them. Eighth, there can be problems of conflicting expectations where you would like things to be organized in a certain way but have no voice in that. Ninth, you have the problem of parental consciousness per se, that is to say there’s no adult within the child’s environment at all who is conscious of the fact that, let’s say, a child who’s three-years old not saying a single word, that that’s maybe an issue that ought to be looked into. Then there’s one other one that I’ve forgotten.  

Anyway, there are a range of those kind of barriers that exist and we have not addressed those barriers systematically.