Are Other Care Programs Jumping the Line?
Plus: My story on a new approach to special education in Portland, Oregon, and news from around the globe
It’s wonderful to see more and more people empowered to talk about care issues in local and federal policy. From New York City’s announcement of free universal preschool to New Mexico’s free universal childcare, the fact that children’s care needs exist is finally being recognized.
Yet, often when I start talking to a staff member or legislator about paid family caregiving they think I’m talking about paid family leave — an important but different topic. (My autocorrect will sometimes even try to finish my sentences for me to say paid family leave instead of “caregiving”!) Society is coming to recognize how important it is for people to maintain their income during short-term care situations. That empathy, understanding and funding seems to get muddled on the way to long-term care situations.
That’s despite the fact that disabled people have been given a failed promise of a functional care system for decades.
Long-term care needs, especially for children, are rare, which means fewer people are out there advocating for them. I hope that as more people are seeing the need for short-term care solutions, they bring us along too.
Out now: A New Model for Portland Special Education
This week, PDX Parent magazine released my story on the new approach to special education in the state’s largest school district.
Portland Public Schools is Trying a New Inclusive Schools Model. But is it Working? explores the controversy around mainstreaming versus specialized instruction at two different all-inclusive schools — one that seems like paradise and the other that seems like chaos. Here are some excerpts:
[…]In Portland, the debate over this inclusive model hasn’t fallen along familiar “us versus them” lines. Opponents are careful to mention that they want the right supports for disabled children, not that they don’t want them around. Proponents aren’t against the neighborhood schools model. What they do oppose though is rolling out these huge changes without the appropriate staff in place to meet student’s needs.
“Every day, our kids — along with the staff who support them — are experiencing alarming levels of unsafe behaviors,” reads an open letter from 72 Peninsula parents to district leadership. “Without adequate mental-health staffing; without reliable, trained adult support; and without the legally required services for students with IEPs and high needs, learning and safety are compromised.”
[…]In 2023, the Oregon legislature allocated $10.2 billion to schools — for the first time funding it to the level that the state’s Quality Education Commission has been saying is needed for the state’s schools to run well.
But it wasn’t enough.
That same year, the Portland Association of Teachers went on a 26-day strike to negotiate for better conditions and wages.
PAT President Bonilla says one biennial budget is not going to make up for decades of underfunding.
“Congratulations, legislature. You did the right thing once,” she says. “There are billions of dollars they owe us.”
Bonilla says the PAT strike taught her that getting loud is how to get the legislature to move on these long-standing issues. She now says the same thing to legislators that she says to children in her classroom: “‘If you only change things when there’s a crisis, then you are teaching me that it takes a crisis for you to change things,” she says. “I don’t want that to be the way our government works.”[…]
Read the full story at PDXParent.com.
Medical Motherhood’s news round up
Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.
• From Education Week: “Trump Again Proposes Major Education Cuts in New Budget Proposal”
[…]For the second year in a row, Trump is proposing to zero out longstanding federal education programs that support educators’ professional development (currently $2.2 billion a year), services for English learners ($890 million), academic enrichment and student supports ($1.4 billion), before- and after-school programs ($1.3 billion), rural schools ($220 million), and support for students experiencing homelessness ($129 million).
[…]Discretionary grant programs that support research and educator training for special education, currently worth roughly $260 million a year, would similarly fold into the existing formula grant program that pays for special education services in schools.
[…]Investment in special education through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act would increase modestly year over year, to roughly $16 billion.[…]
• From Portland Press Herald: “Proposed Medicaid rule changes in Maine have sown confusion, child advocates say”
Child advocates say messaging from Maine officials around proposed rule changes to a Medicaid program that serves children with disabilities has sown confusion among nonprofits delivering the benefits.
Advocates said the changes would restrict eligibility, making it harder for some children to obtain services that help with life and social skills.
“It’s a complete mess right now, and if these rules go forward it’s going to break the system,” said Nancy Cronin, executive director of the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council.[…]
• From FOX 11 News: “Survey explores housing needs in Northeast Wisconsin for those with autism or disabilities”
No one likes to think about their own death, but for parents caring for their adult children with disabilities, it’s something that needs to be planned for.
A new community survey being launched this week is meant to help take some of that worry away.
[…]In Brown, Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties, more than 6,000 individuals who have autism or intellectual disabilities are living in homes of caregivers who are over the age of 60.
“We’re trying to understand, ‘What do our wide range of options need to be considering as we go forward?’” said John Edwards.[…]
• From : “Maryland lawmakers advance LEAD Act to protect children who wander”
[…]A bipartisan push inspired by one little girl could soon become the first law of its kind in the nation -- aimed at protecting some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
[…]The legislation would:
Require statewide police and first responder training specific to interacting with individuals with autism or other non-apparent disabilities.
Allow parents to share GPS tracking information with schools to help locate children if they wander.
Expand school safety mapping, including nearby water hazards and other risk areas.
Create a central hub of resources for caregivers, connecting families with tools, guidance, and support.[…]
• From Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (U.K.): “Pioneering tool transforming music education for disabled children”
A groundbreaking digital tool is helping ensure that no child is left out of music lessons, especially those with upper limb impairments or absences, who may have been overlooked in the past.
[…]The tool is also proving that inclusion does not need to be expensive - the cost of adapted instruments and equipment identified as needed across all nine hubs came to just £2,346 in total.[…]
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