Warren got in touch and shared his family's experience of nursery care for disabled children.
My son was born with
a life limiting heart condition, he celebrated his second birthday in June, which meant
he was eligible for 15 hours of free nursery care a week and we began
researching nurseries that could accommodate him.
We visited one nursery who
told us they could accommodate him, but when we obtained a price list, it was
clear they had made it impossible to use his full quota of free hours without
paying for large amounts of additional care.
As our son tires very easily and
we only wanted to send him for two mornings a week, this meant we would only be
able to use 5.5 hours from his free allowance and would have to pay £139.47 per
week for the other 5.5 hours. My wife was quite upset, as she felt the nursery
was treating my son as a commodity to exploit for financial gain, rather than
his needs being their primary focus.
What experiences have you had with nurseries? Do you feel they are responding to the needs of disabled children or being used to make money? Let us know what you think!
