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  • 19 hours ago
For parents of children with complex medical needs, accessing childcare is almost impossible, leaving a heavy care burden on families and preventing those children from learning to socialise at an early age. With very few facilities set up with the staff or equipment required, an Australian-first pilot program has begun in WA.

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00:00A first for these parents, able to leave their children with complex medical needs in safe
00:10hands and take a break.
00:12Our families are so exhausted, it's such a hidden battle.
00:16It happens in hospitals and homes and our families are very isolated.
00:20Under the Disability Discrimination Act, everyone has a legal right to access childcare, but
00:27in reality, very few facilities can cater for high needs children.
00:31Our kids have every right to have a fantastic upbringing, early education experience, socialisation,
00:39chances to make friends.
00:40The pilot program delivered by Ripple Ability with support from Carers WA working to deliver
00:46that with three five-week trials set to run across Perth.
00:51The children with complex needs and their siblings in this group left with the skilled workers
00:56from support provider Hannah's House.
00:59All those children in that room today, they don't know any different to who's who.
01:03They're all there just to have fun and have a good time and learn and play together.
01:07And why can't every child have that?
01:10Their parents not too far away, learning about the systems they'll need to navigate to access
01:16support.
01:18Systems that too often require them to focus on what their child can't do, not what they
01:23can.
01:24Every single parent cried today when they were asked to flip the script, because for many
01:29of them, they've never been asked that question.
01:32Nobody asks us what our kids are great at.
01:34Everybody asks us what our kids are not great at.
01:36It was good to actually sit down and write all the good things that your kids can do and
01:40yeah, that was actually beautiful.
01:42Those involved hopeful the pilot program will help develop a national model that delivers
01:47equal access to childcare for all.
01:50people?
01:58Maybe, have you seen that?
01:59I'm happy with that.
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