In 1998-1999, the CUPW Special Needs
School-Year Project helps 250 members with 290 children with
special needs to find and
pay for out-of-school child care and child care-related services
that
reduce stress on parents and provide opportunities for the
children to learn more about their interests, develop their skills,
and
spend time in positive learning relationships with other children
and adults.
CUPW is one of a very few unions that has negotiated
a child care fund to assist members in finding and affording
quality child care.
A membership survey told CUPW that child care
for children with special needs was a major issue for many of
their members.
The
union then used the fund to research and analyze the impact
on members' work and family lives of parenting a young
child with
special needs. 74% reported that their children face limitations
regarding attendance at school or child care, 75% of the
children are limited in participation at play or recreation
activities,
and 43% have special transportation needs. Since 1996,
the CUPW Special Needs Summer Project helped 240 members to bring
their
costs of child care and child care-related services closer
to the costs faced by other members with typically developing
children.
A partnership with SpeciaLink, the National Centre
for Child Care Inclusion, gives CUPW access to staff who are
experienced
in special
needs.
All
CUPW members who are parents have difficulties juggling work
and family. Parents of children with special needs
have additional
problems with higher financial and personal costs.
Recognizing those added challenges, the CUPW Special Needs
Project
helps over 250 CUPW members and their families deal
with out-of-school
child
care and child care-related services.
The 250 CUPW members have 290
children with special needs including blindness, deafness, severe
asthma
and diabetes,
learning disabilities
and attention deficit disorder, autism, cerebral
palsy, genetic disorders, brain injuries, and
profound developmental
delay.
These special needs range from mild to severe,
and include children from
birth to 18 years. Thirty-five members have more
than one child with special needs, and several
members who
themselves
have
special needs also have children with special
needs.
- Child care and related costs are generally
much higher for CUPW members with children
who have
special needs.
- Without additional supports,
the doors to regular child care, recreation and community
programs
remain closed.
- The child's special needs
often cause spouses of CUPW members to leave the workforce
or
take part-time
work.
- The child's medical needs often
require much more unpaid time off work by CUPW
members and
many more
uninsured
expenses.
Most
of the CUPW members use the CUPW fund to pay for child care,
special transportation,
and
recreation
programs that
include
specially trained workers.
CUPW members
also use the CUPW fund to make community-based child care
more accessible to their children
who have special needs
by providing funding for such things
as equipment
and assistive devices.
The
funding and support offered by the CUPW Special Needs Project
is available
to CUPW
members who
have children
with special
needs, and who experience difficulties
in securing, keeping, and paying
for specialized child care services.
The
children must be no older than 18. In addition, the impact
of
the child's
special
needs on
the family must
result in
child care and child care-related
expenses being higher in cost,
and/or more difficult to access,
hindering or preventing the
child's participation in activities that
other
children his or her age are
accessing. Prepared for the CUPW Special
Needs Project by SpeciaLink:
The National
Centre for
Child Care
Inclusion. For
hard copies of
this Fact Sheet, the Executive
Summary of the research report,
the Full
Report In
Our Way, and further information,
contact the CUPW
National Office, or SpeciaLink.
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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