Parents with special needs children are still awaiting a decision on whether their child can begin school – in ten days! The absence of a decision leaves approximately 20 parents in limbo.
Donegal County Childcare highlighted that half of all grand applications for children with disabilities to attend pre-school had been refused this summer, 14 of these decisions have been overturned by HSE.
Despite strong assurances from HSE that there was no withdrawal of supports in Donegal and that they have committed the same amount of funding as last year to this area, the amount of funding allocated to date falls far short of the 2015 allocation of €205,000.
Avril McMonagle
Last week, Avril McMonagle, Manager of Donegal County Childcare told Donegal Daily, “With only two weeks to go before children are due to start pre-school, Donegal HSE’s handling of this situation is entirely unsatisfactory and very unfair to both parents and childcare providers.”
However no resolution has been reached since, leaving just a little over a week until children are due back at school.
Avril has also highlighted the unfairness in the pre-school system as it is a very straight forward service for children without special needs, however children with special needs need to go through a convoluted application process.
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