HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-06-19-HSC-min.pdf Minutes
Human Services Committee
6/ 19/91
Present Renee Cochin, Co-Chairman, and Ann Irving, Human
Services Committee; Pam Varrin and Chris Connor, Parents'
Advisory Committee/Integrated Recreation Panel ; Steve Baran,
Human Services Coordinator (recorder)
Chris Connor and Pam Varrin came to acquaint the Human Services
Committee representatives with the history of efforts of parents
of special needs young people (30-40 members on Parents' Advisory
Committee, 12-15 at any one meeting; 6 members of Integrated
Recreation Panel ) to obtain recreational services in the Town.
Special needs children had, previous to last summer, attended
"Kids' Camp", a camp run by the Recreation Department exclusively
for special needs children Last summer was the first season for
"Camp for All ", an integrated, non-competitive camp that was
received very positively by all the campers The Director was a
special needs education teacher from the Clarke Middle School ;
the ratio was 4 1
Previous to last summer the parents had come to rely on an
arrangement whereby the children would spend the entire summer at
camp Many of the parents had expected the arrangement would
continue Therefore, there was considerable tension when only
two-two-week sessions were made available Moreover, there was
considerable uncertainty up to the last minutes about what
arrangements would be made During the talks with the Recreation
Department, the Committee succeeded in altering the language of
the Department' s brochure to str ke language referring to
"integrated" programs
The goal of the Parents' Advisory Committee is to have all
recreational programs open, and they were continuing to work to
this end with the Recreation Department Also, Children' s
Hospital will be providing training to interested communities The
Hayden program continues to be segregated, and the Committee is
developing strategies to overcome this problem At present,
'!. Hayden accommodates well to those speuial needs young people
whose problems are not obvious They will accept more disabled
I people when they are accompanied by a full -time attendant
II
Renee and Ann discussed strategies for the parents to follow
around getting a policy commitment by the Town greater
involvement of the Recreation Committee, the Selectmen,
participation n forthcoming diversity training informing the
Town through the papers of special need (as was done in relation
to the camping experience last summer
ISI Pam and Chris said they looked forward to keeping in touch with
itthe Human Services Committee
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