Department of Defense Policies on Accommmodating Children with Special Needs in Child Care Programs.

摘要

The Department of Defense (DOD) subsidizes child care programs to assist military families, including many with children with special needs, in balancing the competing demands of family life, accomplishing the DOD mission, and improving their financial health. Although DOD has a number of child care programs on and off installations, most military families who use DOD-provided care use Child Development Centers (CDC) or other forms of on-installation care, such as family homes. DOD child care is not guaranteed to all who need it, and the availability of such care depends on demand and the services' budgetary resources. However, when space is available, DOD officials stated that the military services are required to offer accommodations to children with special needs unless those accommodations fundamentally alter the nature of the program. For example, a child with special needs requiring constant one-on-one care may be denied a slot in a CDC, which is a group setting, because that level of care would result in a fundamental change to the nature of the program. Senate Report 111-201 directed DOD to report on a number of issues related to children with special needs in the areas of education and child care, including services and challenges for military dependent children with special needs and their families. The Senate Report also directed GAO to review DOD's report. We recently issued a report on DOD schools to fulfill part of this requirement, but because child care service delivery structures differ, we examined the child care portion separately. This product describes key DOD policies and procedures for: (1) accommodating children with special needs, (2) monitoring program compliance with accommodation policies, and (3) administering medication to children with special needs to relieve symptoms quickly in emergencies and related litigation, if any.