Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Northwest’s Child if you have teens and adults?
It was
originally meant to be symbolic of the fact that our students are
“everyone’s children” (basically the “it takes a village” concept)… A
child’s upbringing is not just the responsibility of the biological
parents or guardians, but rather, it is the responsibility of everyone
that child comes in to contact with that individual to help give that
child, youth or young adult the best possible life experience in all
aspects of a person’s life. In addition, when the program first began,
our primary goal was to serve those un-served children with moderate to
severe developmental & physical disabilities.
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Do you watch movies all day?
No! We tailor our program
around the needs of each student enrolled and design a program
specifically for those needs. We concentrate our efforts on getting our
student ts out into the community as much as possible through field
trips, involvement in the high school sports teams, paper route, etc.
We also work on the same IEP goals that the students have at school so
as to be an extension of the student’s classroom work. In addition, we
gain valuable feedback from each student’s family so that their dreams
and wishes are honored as well.
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What age group do you serve? Our school-age programs in
Seattle and Lynnwood serve students between the ages of 5 and 21. Our
adult sites in Seattle and Kenmore serve adults the age of 21 and up.
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Why are you the only ones doing this, especially for so
long?
Programs like this are not common and traditional licensing rules
and regulations typically stop at age 12 for most “school aged”
programs. Programs for adults have typically been for the elderly so
this particular age group of individuals over age 12 and younger than
those considered “elderly” are virtually non-existent. It is our goal
to change that and offer programs and services for those in our
community who are so seriously underserved. Honestly, there are no
clear reasons why there are not more programs like this. It’s our goal
to open more in more communities in Washington State!
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Are you a school?
No, we are licensed as a School Aged
Center through DSHS but we do very similar things as public schools. In
many ways, we are an extension of the student’s school experience. We
attend IEP meetings, do classroom observations, and are in close
contact with each student’s teachers at school. We also advocate for
the f
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What kinds of disabilities do your students have?
Our
students’ disabilities have a wide range (autism, down syndrome,
cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, developmental delays, etc.), but all
are categorized as being “moderate to severe.”
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How high functioning are your students? It varies. Some
are high functioning physically, while others are high functioning
developmentally, but many are “moderate to severely” low-functioning.
In other words, they are moderately to severely disabled.
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What kinds of services do you provide? We provide a safe, secure
environment for each student and their family. In addition, we serve as
a source of advocacy, resources, and respite, as well as assisting with
vocational training, independent living, and IEPs (Individual
Educational Plans) . Our purpose is to offer a continued educational
& social experience for some of our community’s most vulnerable. In
addition, we help families in accessing the resources and services that
their child/young adult family member needs. Our program works year
round so that when school is out or some of the more minor holidays
happen, we remain open and available for families so that they can
continue to complete their work day. We also have a community outreach
program that works to raise the general public’s awareness of who we
are, what we do, and how to interact respectfully with people with
disabilities. We’ve had representatives speak to groups in elementary
schools, high schools, community colleges, and parent education
programs. If you know someone who might be interested in having us come
visit, please have them call us at (206) 526 2493 or email us at
darcyh@earthlink.net.
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Are any of the students dangerous?No.
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How much does it cost?The official cost per month is $1200 for our
school age sites and $1400 for our adult sites, but many of our
families are low income, single parent families, so we have a sliding
scale based on the resources each family has available. In addition, we
are contracted with a number of branches of DSHS in order to access
funding sources to offset the costs to families. We don’t refuse a
family based on ability to pay. We work to assist families to access
any funding sources they might qualify for in order to reduce their
out-of-pocket costs. For more information, please call the program
number listed.
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How is it funded?We are funded by DSHS, the county, direct fees, grants, inkind gifts and private donations.
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Why did this program start? Simply because no one else was serving this
need. Northwest’s Child has been operating for 15 years now and there’s
still no one else doing it. We now have expanded to serve young adults
( over the age of 21) with moderate to severe disabilities full day …
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How long has NWC been around?We first opened our doors in June of 1991.
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How do you decide who gets in?First come, first served…
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Is there a waiting list?
Yes.
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How do you decide on the education standard?
It’s individualized.
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How do you decide on the licensing standard?
We are regulated by DSHS and the department of health.
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How do people find out about the program?
Generally word of mouth, from
special education teachers in schools, DSHS~DDD case workers, or from
other families. There is also the website, and anyone is welcome to
call and ask questions (see above for our contact info).
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Do you advertise?
No.
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How old
are the students when they graduate?
Our students typically graduate
from high school at age 21 unless they can academically earn it
beforehand. They “graduate” to the adult program here at age 21, and
there is no age limit, currently, to our adult program.
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How many students do you have at each program?
It varies. Our school age sites each have 13 students and our Aaron’s Place locations have about 9 each.
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How are you different from a regular daycare?
We are the only extended
day program in the state specializing in students with moderate to
severe developmental disabilities. We do not consider ourselves a
“daycare”. Instead, we consider ourselves more like an extended
learning opportunity. Our students work on their personal goals &
objectives each day and strive to master some important life-skill
goals in order to be more productive individuals when they enter
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