Liberal MPP apologizes for calling cops on mom protesting autism therapy cut

A Liberal MPP claims he did not callthe police on the mother of an autisticchild who threatened to protest at his constituency office last week but apologized to her Tuesday.

In a statement posted on his website,Mississauga-StreetsvilleMPPBob Delaney wrote thatMelanie Palaypayonhad called his office "often on a daily basis and frequently multiple times in a day" in April and May, and that he called police to get advice on how to handle the situation.

Not long after contacting them, two officers visited Palaypyon at her home.

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"Being a parent of an autistic child is stressful enough," Delaney wrote. "Regardless of the set of circumstances that caused the encounter, I am profoundly sorry that the confrontation occurred."

Palaypayonis one of many parents upset about the provincialgovernment's decision todefund Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) for autisticchildren aged five and older. Under the new policy, families with kids five and older on the IBI wait list will get $8,000 to pay for treatment as they are cut off the wait list.

Palaypayon's son Xavier is six years old and hadbeen on the wait list for IBI for three years, only to be removedthis spring.

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"He's waiting for half of his life for this life-changingtherapy, the IBI, and for all those changes that they madI feltlike we've been thrown in the garbage,"Palaypayontold Canadian Press.

She said she told Delaney's staff that if she didn'tget a meeting with himshe would "squat" outside and hand out flyers protestingthe government's policy to everyone who visits the office.

"I know my voice was strong, I know I'm aggressive, I know I wasreally persistent because I think that was the only way that I couldbe heard," she said.

In his statement, Delaney said his office "never instructed or asked the officers to take any action at all." He said two officers visited his office Friday morningand spoke with hisstaff members while he was away. Theylatervisited Palaypayon"and thus the very confrontation we wanted most to avoid had happened on Mrs. Palaypayon's doorstep."

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"It's very important to me that all of the MPPs in my governmentinteract with the families who come to their offices.Interacting with people who are dealing with these challengesevery single day is the way we learn and make sure that our plan isthe right plan for every family in the province," Wynne said.

Palaypayon recently started a part-time nursing job and said nowthat her family has that secondary income, perhaps she can pay forsome private therapy.

"I will try to do more jobs...maybe we can sell the house inorder for Xavier to have this therapy," she said, weeping. "If(there's) only even one per cent or 0.5 per cent that my son has achance to help him to reach his full potential I will doeverything."