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sahm2three 12:55 PM 09-24-2010
For those of you who have or have had a special needs child in care, if the parents are not on state assistance, do you charge more for the child? I have a drop in who is special needs and requires a lot more attention. She is on oxygen and an apnea machine. So I have only had her a couple times, and didn't know how to do it so I told mom for now I would just charge the regular drop in rate and see how it goes. So just wondering what you all do. Thanks!
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kendallina 01:13 PM 09-24-2010
I'm not sure but isn't it illegal to charge more for a special needs child unless you need to spend more money because of that child? Like, if you needed an assistant to help while that child was there...

I'm sure someone will know more, but it seems like I've read that somewhere.
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DCMomOf3 01:53 PM 09-24-2010
Originally Posted by kendallina:
I'm not sure but isn't it illegal to charge more for a special needs child unless you need to spend more money because of that child? Like, if you needed an assistant to help while that child was there...
This is what I am remembering too.
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Unregistered 06:12 PM 09-24-2010
By LAW you are NOT allowed to charge more for a special needs child they are covered under the IDEA act and they are to be treated the same as other, a right to same education, you are not allowed to deny services to a special needs child, etc. this can be considered discrimation. I understand a special needs child is alot of work as I am a parent of one and it is hard on a daily basis to parent a special needs child so you shouldnt make it even harder on Mom by charging more all us parents of a special needs children just want our kids to be TREATED the same as a "normal" child.
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MarinaVanessa 01:44 PM 09-26-2010
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
By LAW you are NOT allowed to charge more for a special needs child they are covered under the IDEA act and they are to be treated the same as other, a right to same education, you are not allowed to deny services to a special needs child, etc. this can be considered discrimation. I understand a special needs child is alot of work as I am a parent of one and it is hard on a daily basis to parent a special needs child so you shouldnt make it even harder on Mom by charging more all us parents of a special needs children just want our kids to be TREATED the same as a "normal" child.
Correctamundo to a T. Sahm2Three, you don't mention in your post wether it's a financial burden on you to provide the kind of care the child needs. If it doesn't then you shouldn't and legaly can't charge more than your normal rates. However, if you needed to hire an addition staff member and the cost for that extra person was a financial burden on you, or your home needed to be modified for this child and those costs were to create a financial burden on you then it would be obvious that you would not be able to afford these in order to provide adequate care. In this case you would have the option of terminating services with the family and suggesting that they find someone that could provide these necessary accomodations.
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sahm2three 04:21 PM 09-26-2010
The deal is, it is a foster child, and the foster parent doesn't work enough to qualify for state assistance for said foster child. If the foster parent did qualify for state assistance, I would have received a higher rate from the state for her. That is why I asked. I do have to have an assistant here when she is here because I have 1 too many under 1's here. But not because of her disability.
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momofboys 07:44 PM 09-26-2010
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
By LAW you are NOT allowed to charge more for a special needs child they are covered under the IDEA act and they are to be treated the same as other, a right to same education, you are not allowed to deny services to a special needs child, etc. this can be considered discrimation. I understand a special needs child is alot of work as I am a parent of one and it is hard on a daily basis to parent a special needs child so you shouldnt make it even harder on Mom by charging more all us parents of a special needs children just want our kids to be TREATED the same as a "normal" child.
While I agree we should not discriminate, it is true that if I were to take on a child such as the one mentioned above I would have to hire additional help. I could not afford to do so so as a result the other children in my care would get LESS care & less of my attention. How is that fair to them or me?
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