Candian man who killed his son with autism in despair over new group home, wife says

From CBC News:

The wife of an Edmonton man who killed himself and his 11-year-old severely autistic son nearly two weeks ago says her husband was overwrought with despair about plans to move the boy to another group home.

"He was despondent and quiet and saddened and heartbroken," she said Friday in an exclusive interview with CBC News. "He didn't know what else to do. He just felt true despair over the situation. He felt that the rug was just ripped from under his feet."

The bodies of the 39-year-old man and his son were discovered in the family's northeast Edmonton home Sept. 27 after the woman called police over concerns she couldn't reach her husband.

"I miss them more than anything, than I could have ever missed in my life, but they're with God now," she said between sobs, "and we take solace in that."

The woman, who does not want to be named in order to protect her surviving child, spoke about the troubles the family had in getting more help for the boy.

The child had severe autism and was showing some progress in an Edmonton group home that gave him care around the clock. Then the couple learned the support for that home was coming to an end — something they initially couldn't "understand or comprehend why," she said.

"It was because it cost too much money to keep him where he was at. ... I think that was pretty much the beginning of the end for us," she said.

New home more clinical
A week or two before her husband died, the woman went on a tour of a new facility with him. The group home was more clinical and seemed inappropriate for dealing with their son's violent outbursts, something that upset her husband, she said.

"When we left the place, he said that this isn't exactly the life he ever envisioned for his son," she said. "He wanted so much more for him, and if we're starting here at 11 years old, where are we going to be when he's 30? And that was weighing on him heavily."

While her husband was upset, she didn't realize at the time how desperate he'd become, she said. He was a loving and giving father, she said, but the situation pushed him over the edge.

The woman is also upset with Alberta Children and Youth Services Minister Janis Tarchuk, who revealed this week the province spent $450,000 over three years to provide services for her stepson, information the woman says constitutes a breach of her family's privacy.

"Our child was a severe case of autism and required that type of level of care," she said.

"We don't publish how much it costs to keep a criminal in jail. We don't publish how much it costs to heal a smoker who's dying. But we publish how much it costs to take care of a child with autism? That's ridiculous."

On Wednesday, Tarchuk defended the release of information, saying she was trying to show the public the province had been trying to help the family.

Tarchuk said she planned to contact the family to explain her decision, but the woman says she hasn't heard from anyone with the province.