Would I Be Discriminating If I Did Not Take An Autistic Child?

[Unregistered]

Hi! I am posting anonymously due to the concern I have. I have a neighbor that has asked me to provide care for three school age children, one of the children is severely autistic. The child needs close supervision (i'd say one on one) as he runs away whenever he sees an opportunity. I currently have 9 children in my care, 2 are infants (one very difficult). I just cannot see myself providing the level of care this child needs when I have two infants and other children. I actually would like to take the other two as they are close friends with my kids, however, can I say "I will take these two, but not your other one?" i am thinking I could get in big trouble. Thanks for any thoughts you all have!

[youretooloud]

That isn't discrimination. Nobody can force you to be equipped to deal with a special need if you aren't equipped to deal with it. Most people go to school for four years to learn how to work with autistic kids. Especially at his age.

Heck, even the parents hire a respite care worker to give them some help. Nobody can do that alone.

[Blackcat31]

Here are a couple other threads about excluding a child because of a disability. https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=ada

I believe you may always decline to care for a child simply because you don't think they are a good fit or that you are not able to provide the level of care they require but you aren't suppose to ever exclude a child based soley on their disability.

You could say you don't have space but you can't say you won't take him because he is autistic. HTH

[bunnyslippers]

In my opinion, and I am not sure of the actual law on this one (and I definitely should know the law), I think you would be opening yourself up to a discrimination claim if you took two and not the third with autism. I think in this case, honesty is the best way to go. I would just explain your concerns, based on your current group dynamic. Children with autism are amazing, fun and interesting, but can also be quite challenging and time consuming. I would just be open and have a frank discussion with the mother.

On a side note...I would not recommend taking a child who runs away into a home daycare without 1:1 monitoring. I have had many experiences in my old life where children who exhibited bolting behavior made it away from where they were supposed to be in record time. It is scary, scary stuff!

[CrackerJacks]

Here is a link to Toms blog regarding the Americans with Disabilities act and family Childcare..

http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/2012/08/the-americans-with-disabilities-act-and-family-child-care.html

[Starburst]

Check your state regulations:

It depends on where you live. Here in California (according to Title 22 & ADA), you cannot refuse a child or charge them more for a spot in your program on the base that they have special/medical needs (unless you can prove that your home is not structurally equipped with out major renervations such as if the child has a wheelchair and you have a stairs on your porch and no ramp). Even if the kid had HIV/AIDS you legally could not refuse to take them based on that fact alone. But if you did take them and they had behavior problems that were harmful to other children (such as hitting/bitting) or put the other children at risk of being harmed, then you could term them. Plus I can see if you tell her you will take her two kids but not her autistic child that it can cause some issues (meaning possible slander/lible)

But for your local/state regulations (some are different for DC centers and FCCs), I would ask your liscensor what it says about that- though most states have emergent/inclusion laws for equal rights to the same services. Also see into looking into learning information about autism or other special need issues or taking a class on children with special needs at a local community college or online (I'm taking one this semester).

[Unregistered]

Thank you all for the great info. As I am reading Tom Copeland's blog, I see I could refuse service If it would cause an Undue burden. This child is violent, and also causes sanitation issues as he smears poop. I believe these issues would cause an undue burden on not just me but the kids currently in my care. I do think I am walking a very fine line here!

[canadiancare]

Do you have ratio rules where you live? Here a severely autistic child would require an aide to care for their needs at the very least. You can't be expected to run your home based daycare and not be able to meet the needs of all the children in your care.