Originally Posted by Rockgirl:
We were told in a training that it is acceptable to word it something like: “I do not have the staff to meet the child’s needs.”
Not enough. You have to find the solution to providing appropriate care for a child with a disability. So, if the experts tell you can provide care with some training and help from the parents/outside resources, you have to provide the care. If the experts tell you that another adult needs to be present to provide the appropriate care, then you need to find out if there are any volunteers who can help. If so, you must provide the care. If not, then you need to find out how much it would cost to hire the extra adult. If the cost is "significant" you don't have to provide the care. What is "significant" is subject to interpretation, but I think that a few hundreds dollars a week would be significant. Then, you can tell the parent that the solution would cost you a significant amount of money and you can't provider the care. Only by going through this process would you be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Just saying "I don't have the staff" is not enough.