So I might of mentioned in a previous post that I am on the board of director's of a non-profit whose mandate is to run a day camp for children with disabilities. Anyway, last week we had a meeting and one of the topics that has come up repeatedly in the past year is age; how old should the kids be and can the kids age-out?
We thought we had hashed this question out a few weeks ago but at last week's meeting, one of the board members didn't want to ratify the minutes because the age limit is officially sanctionned to be 21 in the minutes. Now, I fully understand this gentelman. He is really the nicest guy but he and his ex-wife do not exactly get along and their son is now 22 and in his last year of formal education. He's getting very worried that his son will not have a place to go come summer if we age him out at the day camp and his ex-wife is not letting him on her plans - they really do not get along.
Anyway, we had agreed that kids had to be under 21 at October 31st which is the legal age of education for people with special needs in Quebec. Now it feels like we've made an exception for him because he is a board member by allowing his son to come for this summer - he is finishing his last year of formal education after all - but I'm not very comfortable with this decision.
Do we really want such a huge age gap (from 6-21) even tho these kids are special needs? It really becomes a question of services and what is out there for young adults. Hopefully this is something that will become more obvious as Ronnie gets older because the reality is that i will be in the same spot as this guy is now; except I'm hopeful that Brian and I will still be on talking terms:)
'til next time.
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