Current state of inclusion of children with special needs in child care programmes in one Canadian province

Background: Access to quality child care is an important support for families with children with disabilities. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the current state of inclusion of children with special needs in child care programmes, and (2) the presence of child care staff practices and programme characteristics that support inclusion. Methods: Mail survey. Results: Centre based day care programmes (n = 318) and family day home agencies (n = 25) responded to the survey (47% response rate). Participants reported positive attitudes towards the philosophy of inclusion; however, 36% of the centre-based programmes and 29% of the family day home agencies that had been contacted by families of children with special needs did not accept them into care. A significant proportion of centre-based programmes (36%) and family day home agencies (40%) were unaware of how to access specialised support services for the children in their programmes. Many programmes (i.e. 54% of centre-based programmes and 96% of family day homes) reported they were not physically accessible. Conclusions: Child care providers require improved access to supports to increase their capacity to provide child care for children with special needs.