Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993 TAG: 9305200205
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
"Sometimes child-care providers are reluctant to accept a special-needs child in their child-care program," said Barbara Bowles, a retired Pulaski County teacher who now works with Mount Rogers.
She said the program has money from a federal grant that could be used to provide someone to aid a child in a day-care center or in the home when the parents are working.
It could hire an additional person for a child-care program to work one-on-one with a special-needs child, if necessary, or a full-time aide could be provided at home. Skilled nursing care even could be provided.
The program covers the counties of Wythe, Bland, Smyth, Carroll and Grayson and the city of Galax. Surveys indicate that there may be as many as 2,000 children with special needs in that region.
So far, the program has provided services to six families. It could accommodate three times that many, Bowles said.
The grant runs through Sept. 30, and another will be sought when that one is exhausted. "But we have a good supply of funds to help a large number of children this summer, so that is our focus at this moment," she said.
With schools about to close, parents of special-needs children may be looking for this kind of help, she said.
"It's just a matter of making contact with the families," she said. "It takes just a few days to do the paperwork."
To get help, both parents or a single parent must be working or in training. They would pay part of the program costs, based on an earnings criteria established by the social services departments. "The minimum co-pay would be $1 a month," Bowles said.
The children must be younger than 18.
Further information is available by calling Bowles or Terri Fitzwater at 228-7750.
by CNB