The mother of a toddler with autism is raising concerns about inclusivity at daycares after her daughter was dismissed by her child-care provider.
“It felt discriminatory because it felt like they didn’t want to care for her because she was too much for them,” said Katelyn Ennis.
The daycare would not comment on specifics due to confidentiality, however it did tell CBC News it was aware of the allegations made by the mother and said they were untrue.
In an interview with CBC News, Ennis alleged there was a lack of communication and collaboration from the daycare about her 2½-year-old daughter’s care.
“When they started to see maybe that there were some concerns around behaviour or how she’s communicating, they should have reached out to me and they should have asked to sit down and discuss what measures can be taken,” Ennis said.
Smiles and Chuckles Children’s Centre in Stewiacke, N.S., said in an email to Ennis following the girl’s dismissal that the centre was unable to provide the care needed while ensuring everyone’s safety.
“We have continued to observe behaviours that have become increasingly challenging,” executive director Kathy Stewart wrote in the email, which was viewed by CBC News.
“The decision to end [her] placement was not based on her diagnosis, developmental delays, or communication abilities.”
The email also noted the seriousness of a biting incident that occurred on the child’s final day at the centre.
Stewart cited the centre’s dismissal policy, which permits end of care when a child’s needs cannot be met, and when extreme issues with behaviour persist.
While Ennis has secured alternative child care, she is concerned about the ability of daycares to meet inclusion standards.
“These are our children, this is our future, right, so if we don’t set them up for success now, I would be concerned of what that might look like in the future,” she said.
Christine Saulnier, the Nova Scotia director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said removing a child from care would be a difficult decision but may be a symptom of a larger problem.
“It is a failure of the system and I don’t think we should look necessarily at the decision of the child-care centre itself,” Saulnier said while noting she couldn’t speak to Ennis’s specific situation.
Saulnier points out that daycares in Nova Scotia need more funding, more regulations and more enforcement to provide inclusive care to children with disabilities.
“There’s just been such a lack of understanding of the skills and qualifications it takes to ensure that these child-care environments and educators are supported in the ways they need to be,” Saulnier said.
Recent investments in child care have been significant, but Saulnier said it’s still not enough, especially as more children gain access to care.
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She said incentives are needed for professional development and retention of qualified and experienced staff. Saulnier also said there needs to be capacity for staff to have conversations with parents on paid time, just as schools do with parent-teacher days, for example.
“We’re not building this in a way that it’s family-centred, it’s really on the child-care centre and on the ECEs [early childhood educators] … to figure it out, and that’s not acceptable and it’s not an acceptable approach to inclusion.”
Brian Foster is the executive director of Inclusion Nova Scotia, a non-profit group that advocates for individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families.
He emphasized the importance of inclusive environments for all from an early age.
“Organizations have to educate themselves on their human rights responsibilities to individuals, they have to work with families wherever possible to figure out how to navigate that,” Foster told CBC News.
“If we are constantly framing people with disabilities as a risk and as a safety concern, we are stigmatizing these people and we are setting them up for exclusion … and the idea that that’s happening to children at that age is frankly disappointing.”
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