Parents at Modbury and Adelaide North special schools told vacation care would be cancelled

School holidays are just around the corner but parents at two Adelaide schools have been thrown a last minute curveball.

Parents of children at two Adelaide special schools are in limbo after being told out of school hours care services would be cancelled at short notice.

The state government has had to step in to fund vacation care over the upcoming school holidays, but there is no guarantee of a long-term solution for after-school care.

About 360 children with disability and high care needs are enrolled across Modbury Special School and Adelaide North Special School.

Until now many families have been using National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding to pay for out of school hours care (OSHC) and vacation care provided on campus by non-profit organisation YMCA SA.

However, the rules governing how NDIS packages can be spent were clarified by the federal government in October.A spokeswoman for the National Disability Insurance Agency said the NDIS “does not, and was never intended to fund” childcare, vacation care or after-school care “which is considered an everyday cost that any parent/carer might reasonably be expected to cover”. Foster mum Amy Hourigan, whose son attends one of the special schools, said parents were notified late on Friday, November 22, that the planned vacation care program would be cancelled because the services was no longer financially viable.

The school term finishes on December 13.

At this stage, after-school care will not be offered when classes resume at the end of January.

Ms Hourigan launched an online petition which has gathered almost 650 signatures, and caught the attention of state Education Minister Blair Boyer.

Mr Boyer told The Advertiser on Wednesday afternoon that the government would step in to ensure parents could access care in the short-term.

“To ensure continuity of these services for families I have committed to fund the OSHC programs through the December and January vacation care period,” he said.

However, there “will need to be ongoing discussions … to determine a long-term solution for these families”, he said.

“Without access to NDIS funding, OSHC can be expensive for families of children with complex needs who are enrolled in special schools.”

Ms Hourigan told The Advertiser that one day of specialist vacation care could cost more than $500, depending on how many staff were needed to provide care to a child with disability.

It is understood the federal government Child Care Subsidy covers up to $100.

The government will stump up $250,000 to cover after-school care in December and January.

Ms Hourigan said many parents could not afford to pay the gap if they could not use NDIS funding.

“The children are in a familiar environment at the schools, with workers they know, but a lot of these kids are now going to have to find other programs,” she said.

“It’s a huge deal for them to change their routine. Some of them may self-harm. Some of them will throw up. It’s so stressful.”

Originally published as Parents at Modbury and Adelaide North special schools told vacation care would be cancelled