A B.C. home-share provider says she won’t stop providing care for her vulnerable client, despite not being paid for nearly 20 months.
Melanie Piscia said issues began after an accident in her home in which her client’s boyfriend fell while helping move a dresser down the stairs.
“It was the beginning of the end because the agency that we were with became hysterical when I called and told them of the situation,” Piscia told Global News.
The boyfriend is another home-share client with the same agency, Piscia explained.
She said after an investigation, she was cleared of any wrongdoing, but her contract was still terminated and she feels blacklisted. She still hasn’t been able to get a contract with another agency.
Piscia said she hasn’t been properly paid since July 2023.
“I was a single parent. So, the money that I should be saving right now for my retirement, I’m putting out on a regular basis so that (my client) Kim has the things that she needs,” she said.
Piscia estimates she’s owed nearly $50,000 and has paid about the same amount into her client’s care.
Her client, Kim Beck, is supported by Community Living BC (CLBC), a Crown corporation that provides funded services to 29,000 adults with developmental disabilities in the province.
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Piscia said Beck works and helps pay for room and board, and occasionally groceries, adding she receives roughly $700 from CLBC to cover the costs of Beck’s horseback-riding lessons.
Kim is the one losing out: advocate
Beck has an advocate, who is also her horseback-riding instructor.
Jenn Pinkerton said she has spent many hours on the phone with CLBC and the agency to figure out why Piscia’s contract was terminated, even after it was determined the fall was an accident.
Melanie Piscia, Kim Beck and Jenn Pinkerton.
Submitted
“They simply cancelled Mel’s contract, which directly affects Kim, and it affects Kim emotionally just as much as financially,” Pinkerton said, explaining Beck was in distress and afraid she would be taken away from Piscia’s home.
Piscia said she hasn’t had any communication with anyone from CLBC in the last eight months to ask how Beck has been doing or if Beck needs anything.
“They have left Kim completely out of the system, even though they’re still collecting all of the money that is funding her support, and that, I guess, is just sitting in the bank waiting for somebody to spend it,” she said.
Pinkerton said it seems the organization has turned a blind eye to the situation.
“CLBC has really dropped the ball on their duty to make sure that Kim is safe because that’s what their contract is to do,” she said. “I see Kim almost every week. I know she’s safe, but I’m not the one receiving funding to make certain.”
Pinkerton said CLBC should step up to find solutions to ensure Kim’s safety and security. Since Piscia is left with no contract, she believes CLBC should offer Piscia a direct contract that can be funded with a personal trust or come up with a creative solution.
“I would say there’s more than one solution. And I would also assert that all we’re getting now are excuses, excuses and excuses,” she said.
“To say there’s no solution, and that the reason there is no solution is because they can’t afford individual monitoring, and then to stop monitoring altogether anyway, just doesn’t hold any water.”
‘Kim is my family’
Piscia said Beck has been under her care for more than two decades.
When asked why Piscia continues to look after Beck despite not getting paid, her answer was clear.
“Kim is my family. I am her family. She calls me mom,” she explained. “As long as she wants to be with me, she’s going to be with me, and I don’t care if CLBC likes it or not.”
In a statement, CLBC said it requires a formal hoe sharing contract be in place with an agency “in order to safeguard the health and well-being of the person receiving supports.”
“The agency helps ensure standards are upheld, for example conducting visits to the home every three months,” it said. “People may choose to make alternate living arrangements, but these are beyond CLBC’s scope.”
Global News was originally scheduled to interview CLBC CEO Ross Chilton on Wednesday, but the interview has been rescheduled to next week.
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