{"id":1313444,"date":"2019-08-11T20:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T02:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/new-castle-couple-struggles-with-daycare-for-mildly-disabled-daughter\/"},"modified":"2019-08-11T20:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T02:52:00","slug":"new-castle-couple-struggles-with-daycare-for-mildly-disabled-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/new-castle-couple-struggles-with-daycare-for-mildly-disabled-daughter\/","title":{"rendered":"New Castle couple struggles with daycare for mildly disabled daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Gretchen, Hadley and John Hughes spend time together at Sayre park in Glenwood Springs.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The evening before 2-year-old Hadley Hughes was supposed to attend preschool, her parents Gretchen and John Hughes of New Castle received an unexpected phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was forcefully asking me to withdraw Hadley from the program,\u201d Gretchen Hughes described of the conversation with the preschool\u2019s administrator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like she was saying to me \u2026 why would I take a kid with special needs when I could take a kid with no special needs for the same amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hadley, who turns 3 in September, has a mild case of cerebral palsy.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cHadley had something to bring to that preschool.\u201d\u2014 John Hughes, father<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cCerebral palsy is kind of an umbrella statement and it catches a lot of kids,\u201d Gretchen said of the group of disorders, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remains the most common motor disability in childhood.<\/p>\n

The CDC describes a severe case of cerebral palsy as a person in need of special equipment in order to walk. In some instances, an individual with severe cerebral palsy may not be able to walk at all. In other cases, like an individual with mild cerebral palsy, he or she may not require any special assistance to walk.<\/p>\n

With her \u201cminiature shopping cart\u201d that looks more like a children\u2019s toy than a walking device, Hadley Hughes walks well.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019ll take this to school,\u201d father John Hughes said as he picked up Hadley\u2019s cart. \u201cAnd, with that she can go wherever the other kids go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Gretchen, \u201cShe can get up and down our stairs without our help.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hughes\u2019 were financially and contractually obligated to the preschool in early June. They received the call recently, at 6:30 p.m. the night before when Hadley was scheduled to show up at 7:45 a.m. the next day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like this was discriminatory,\u201d John Hughes said of the experience. \u201cI became concerned that Hadley wouldn\u2019t be treated right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the back and forth with the administrator, both Gretchen and John agreed \u2014 they did not want their daughter going there.<\/p>\n

This was the third instance in which Hadley was declined admittance. As a result, it left Gretchen, an operating room registered nurse at Valley View Hospital, and her husband John, an AP chemistry teacher at Eagle Valley High School in Gypsum, scrambling.<\/p>\n

The Hughes\u2019 had planned on paying $800 a month for Hadley to attend preschool three days a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a lot, for a lot of families. I know that\u2019s a lot of money to us,\u201d Hughes said of the cost of child care regionally.<\/p>\n

The Hughes say they are not interested in pointing fingers, but instead hoped to raise awareness about the need for additional resources in the area for parents, and especially of children with disabilities of any kind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a child who is delayed or disabled, there is really not a lot of information,\u201d Gretchen explained. \u201cIt\u2019s taken me a lot of digging to find what we have found.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, every nanny who took the time to actually meet Hadley said that they would take care of her, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only people who are unwilling,\u201d John said of those who declined Hadley.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Or, unwilling to even meet us as soon as you mention cerebral palsy,\u201d added Gretchen.<\/p>\n

They wonder, too, how Hadley would feel if she truly knew why she was not attending preschool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if she was older and she felt rejected,\u201d John said of his daughter. \u201cNot everyone is going to be an athlete, and that\u2019s OK. But, Hadley had something to bring to that preschool.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Hadley\u2019s favorite activities these days includes reading. And, just like any other child, her father said she would very much benefit from a school environment, particularly at her age.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kind of lose hope in the area about options,\u201d John said. \u201cBut, definitely don\u2019t give up \u2026 because, if you back down, the problem is never going to get solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visibly upset, Gretchen also asked that other families in similar circumstances never give up. \u201cKeep fighting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gretchen, Hadley and John Hughes spend time together at Sayre park in Glenwood Springs.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent The evening before 2-year-old Hadley Hughes was supposed to attend preschool, her parents Gretchen and John Hughes of New Castle received an unexpected phone call. \u201cShe was forcefully asking me to withdraw Hadley from the program,\u201d Gretchen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 03:22:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}