Variety provides direct support to low-income families who care for children with disabilities and complex health needs. This support is delivered via grants that are distributed directly to the vendors that provide support. Our support programs include funding for adaptive equipment, specialized therapies, private assessments, mental health supports, as well as tuition and tutoring.
Only families whose child meets all of the following criteria can be considered for an individual grant:
– Children from birth to their 19th birthday. (Note: for autism assessment, the child seeking help must be 4 years or under.)
– A child must be a B.C. resident with a valid Personal Health Number (PHN) or Yukon resident with a valid Health Care Card
– Qualified special need (medical and/or developmental) as confirmed by a designated health care professional. (This does not apply to private autism and psychoeducational assessments or mental wellness requests)
– Financial circumstance that limits the ability to afford the item or service required. (We are currently able to consider requests from households with an annual income of up to $85,000).
Our current grant priority areas are:
Where the Government can fund the item requested (partial or full), Variety requests that you apply to the Government for that particular item first. Variety will consider top ups, by providing funding for items that the Government or private healthcare plan will not cover fully. Variety may consider interim funding for services with an extended wait-time. Written confirmation is required confirming any of these situations.
The following are not funded by Variety grants:
Variety aims to support families most in need. We will consider a total net household income of up to $85,000.00 per year. Canada Revenue Agency Notice of Assessment is required with each application.
Yes, Variety will be able to consider a request for a psychoeducational assessments.
Regrettably, as per our guidelines Variety is not able to pay for expenses that have already been initiated or have already occurred prior to submission or written approval. We are also not able to reimburse families, as we pay the vendors directly. So, Variety will not be able to help those families who already had an autism assessment and who already paid the full cost.
Yes, Variety will consider one autism assessment grant request per child, who meets our grant eligibility criteria.
You do not need to have a confirmed appointment booked before applying. But you will have to select the clinic/professional and obtain a quote for the autism assessment before your grant application can go through the final review process. A grant is approved for a specific professional who then invoice Variety directly for services provided.
