In 1995, an active partnership between the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers and SpeciaLink began. Through
a membership survey, CUPW learned that child care for children
with special needs is a major issue for many of their members.
The union then commissioned SpeciaLink (a research and resource
agency specializing in child care issues involving children
with special needs) to: consider the impact on members' work
and family lives of parenting a child with special needs; determine
if supports negotiated by CUPW were helpful in this regard;
and, ascertain where they might be improved further. Sharon
Hope Irwin, director of SpeciaLink, and Donna S. Lero, professor
of Family Studies at the University of Guelph, co-authored the
research study.
Based on the research and members' response,
in the summer of 1996, CUPW implemented a ten-week summer pilot
project of consultative support and individualized funding for
child care and child care-related services for members with
children with special needs. Specialink was contracted to develop
criteria and guidelines for the project, to help members develop
individualized summer plans, to administer the funding, to assist
members in finding services, to provide consultative support
to members, and to evaluate the project's impacts at the end
of the 10-week period.
105 members participated in the initial summer
pilot. Based on the exceptionally positive response to the 1996
CUPW Special Needs Summer Project, and on members' identification
of the additional financial and emotional stresses they experience
during the school year in parenting children with special needs,
the CUPW 1996-7 Special Needs School-Year Project was implemented.
SpeciaLink was again contracted to provide consultative assistance
to parents, to administer the project, and to evaluate the project's
impact.
In 2001, the project involves over 400 CUPW
families with over 450 children with special needs. The CUPW
/ SL partnership continues.
SpeciaLink: The National Centre for Child Care Inclusion
76 Cottage Road,
Sydney, NS B1P 2C7
Phone (902) 562-1662
FAX (902) 539-9117
Contact us by email
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