The vision of the Special Needs Strategy is an Ontario where children and youth with special needs get the timely and effective services they need to participate fully at home, at school, in the community, and as they prepare to achieve their goals for adulthood.

The objective of Coordinated Service Planning is to provide children and youth with multiple and/or complex special needs and their families with a seamless and family-centred service experience.

As a result of Coordinated Service Planning, families and children/youth with multiple and/or complex special needs will:

  • Have a clear point of contact for Coordinated Service Planning (their Service Planning Coordinator) and know who is accountable for developing and monitoring their child/youth’s Coordinated Service Plan;
  • Not have to repeat their stories and goals to multiple providers;
  • Have a single Coordinated Service Plan that is responsive to their child/youth’s goals, strengths, and needs;
  • Experience a family-centred process that recognizes that each family is unique; that the family is the constant in the child/youth’s life; and that they have expertise on their child/youth’s abilities and needs; and
  • Know that providers will be communicating about the needs and goals of their child/youth and will be working toward a set of common goals identified in the plan.

Coordinated Service Planning goes beyond regular inter-professional communication and collaboration that takes place when providers work together in an effort to ensure they are integrating practice and service delivery for children, youth and families. It is a support in and of itself that is intended to decrease family stress by providing families with a formal voice in the service planning process and by assisting families in navigating and coordinating services for their child/youth.

Coordinated Service Planning is based on the principles of family-centeredness, seamless information sharing, and inclusion (see Part 5 for more detail about the principles).