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Discrimination in Childcare

Lismum

Hi there,
I am new here.
My daughter is born blind and suffers from epilepsy.
Among all the difficulties we have been through I find it the hardest to cope with the fact that because she needs one on one support, she cant access any private nurseries, childminders, or after school clubs.
I believe this is illegal as Equality Act 2008 states that every learning Centre has to provide 'reasonable adjustments' to accommodate all children. Children who need other things like a wheelchair ramp or other kinds of help are entitled to it. Why is it not the same when it comes to a one on one support worker?

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Comments

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @Lismum and a big welcome to the community! Thank you for taking the time to share this with us all, unfortunately I'm sure some of our members will be able to relate to this. I too think it's really unfair that disabled children are unable to access the same provision as everyone else. How old is your daughter?

Lismum

Chloe_scope, thanks a lot for the kind response. She is about to start school now. It has been extremely hard as she needs childcare a lot more than other children and couldn't access any the first couple of years of her life because ghere were no nurseries who would take her around where we lived and we didn't drive. It has hindered her development tremendously not to interact with other children on an everyday basis. We had no time to take her to baby groups, all the time went with hospital visits etc. I am also afraid that most other parents like us have the same experience and that needs to change. I am thinking of starting a petition or go to the media as this is systematic discrimination of our most vulnerable citizens.

Chloe_Alumni

That's no problem at all @Lismum! You are doing an amazing job and it cannot be easy to juggle hospital appointments and fighting for childcare! This is something that certainly needs to change, if you do create a petition then please do let us know

Please do have a look around the community and let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

Doris_Scope

@Lismum

I'm sorry to hear the problems that you have been having with finding help for your daughter.

Have you applied for an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)? This is a formal document should your daughter be given one and is where any help or therapies that your daughter needs is statemented. Once your daughter has one of these, anything written within the document has to be adhered to by your local council by law. It is in this document that 1:1 support would be written.

Your daughter would have to get an EHCP assessment to see if she is eligible for one and usually school are a big help in this, but you can self-refer through your council.
Below is a link that you may find useful with information on EHCPs, what they are and how to ask for an assessment.

Hope this helps

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/pages/category/education-health-and-care-plans

Lismum

Tanks a lot, Doris.

My daughter has this already.
I actually think she has more support than most other children with special needs.

What I want is for all children to get access to the same childcare as other children.
Why can't they just get the same treatment as others?
If we need any childcare during the holidays, we need to apply long before the holidays as our children cant get into the same settings as others. And we need to be very grateful is by any chance, we are able to get any childcare.
Even though we pay the same or more than parents with normal children.
THAT IS NOT FAIR!

I want my child to be able to socialise with other children just like other children.
And I want to be able to have a normal job and work in the holidays and weekends. You can't do that if you are unable to get childcare when you need it.

Doris_Scope

You are absolutely right

@Lismum

It is very unfair that parents of disabled children have to pay more and yet it is so much more difficult.

Have you looked on the IPSEA site I gave you above to see if they have any advice on complaints procedures for accessing after school clubs and childcare? It may be worth looking at.

Doris

esthermb1996

Hiya, I completely understand what you’re saying about accessing childcare. Does your child have an EHCP? That seems to make all the difference nowadays? Also, before the age of 2 it’s ridiculously hard to find a nursery or mainstream setting that will accept or be able to cater to your child. It’s quite upsetting sometimes but please let me know how you get along.

im currently blogging my experience looking for special schools as my daughters nursery has asked us to find alternative arrangements because they can’t accommodate to her anymore. It’s quite frustrating I do get it. Check out your local council and see what they offer.