What barriers are parents/caregivers of young children with special needs (i.e. diagnosis/undiagnosed) experiencing in the City of Hamilton that prevents them from enrolling their children in early years education?
Excerpt from Hamilton Children and Youth Charter of Rights
Project Description: The City of Hamilton is committed to providing inclusive services where every child can fully participate in early years education. The city uses Special Needs Resourcing (SNR) funding to provide licensed child care sites across the city with the appropriate level of service for children with special needs, including staff, equipment and supplies. Licensed child care providers and community partners work together to provide quality care and services where all children can have a sense of belonging and well-being
Based on the experiences of current in licensed child care, licensed home child care and before and after school child care, there appears to be a growing number of children who are not receiving early years education. Perhaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, families report experiencing reduced access to childcare and health services (April 2023, Ontario Parent Survey, Offord Centre for Child Studies). We propose to interview parents/caregivers of young children in Hamilton to better understand the barriers they experience, and what experiences informed their choice not to send their children to early years education and why they made that choice.
The CityLAB project in Winter 2024 provided the background research needed to develop the methodologies and questions for parents/caregivers. We are ready to start data collection by having McMaster students interview parents/caregivers who may wish to share their experiences as they navigated early years education.
Through this project, we hope to achieve an understanding of the entry gaps that families and children experience to inform the City of Hamilton Special Needs Resourcing program with planning to develop strategies to ensure the successful entry to early years education for all children.
City Staff: Marion Trent-Kratz, Supervisor Early Years System – Special Needs Resourcing, EarlyON Child and Family Centres
Additional City Staff: Juliana Weber, Early Years Project Manager, City of Hamilton
Instructor: Dr. Mayu Nishimura, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour