WHAT IS THE BEST SETTING FOR MY CHILD WITH SPECIAL NEEDS?
If your child has special needs, your military service will work closely with you to find the best placement for your child. You can contact your installation child development center to learn more about child care options for your family. Each installation works with a multidisciplinary inclusion action team, or IAT, that includes the parent in the discussion of how to best meet the individual needs of the child. See militarychildcare.com
HOW DO I FIND CHILD CARE IN THE CIVILIAN COMMUNITY?
If you don't have access to installation child development programs or you prefer to have your child cared for off the installation, you still have options.
INSTALLATION RESOURCE AND REFERRAL PROGRAMS
Most installation child development services programs have a resource and referral office to help you find the right care for your child with disabilities. It's important to keep in mind that:
- This office will be the first contact when you are looking for child care resources.
- MilitaryINSTALLATIONS is the place to find contact information for military child development resource and referral offices. See installations.militaryonesource.mil
- Reach out to the enhanced Military OneSource special needs consultants, for easy access to the information and resources you need. militaryonesource.mil/confidential-help/special- ty-consultations/military-onesource-special-needs-consultants/
OTHER OPTIONS
Child Care Aware of America (usa.childcareaware.org) manages the fee assistance program, known as Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood, for the Defense Department. The fee assistance program offsets the cost of child care, making community based child care options more affordable and accessible to eligible military families. Navy families only: The Navy MCCYN Child Care Fee Assistance Program administers the MCCYN program for Navy families. Navy families can visit the following website for additional information: public.militarychildcare.csd.disa.mil/mccu/ui/#/navy.
Some children may require more than routine or basic care, such as children at risk of, or who have disabilities, chronic illnesses or physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions. MilitaryChildCare.com is a Department of Defense website that helps families in any service branch find and request military operated or military subsidized child care anywhere in the world. The website assists families in their search for care for their child with special needs through a process that includes an IAT and military service-specific IAT protocols. The IAT process supports reasonable accommodation by considering the needs of the child, the child care environment, staffing and training requirements, and the resources of the program. Programs welcome the opportunity to discuss each family's needs throughout their search process. More information is available by contacting the local program.
You may also contact the Exceptional Family Member Program (militaryonesource.mil/family-relationships/special-needs/exceptional- family-member/exceptional-family-member-program-the-essentials) to explore child care resources for families with special needs.•
– Military OneSource
