Employers can help Parents of Special Kids
Up to 20% of workers care for children with physical or emotional problems
Reprinted with permission from Work/Life Today
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"They said, ‘Family first. Come back when you’re ready,’" recalls Reid, now the human resources director for the firm’s three south Florida offices.
He did go back to work after each crisis passed, and he has stayed—so far—for 20 years. "It’s given me such a sense of loyalty to the firm," he says. "I don’t think for my situation there could be a better place to be all these years."
Now Reid bends over backward to accommodate other Deloitte parents whose children have special healthcare needs by extending their family leave or fashioning part-time jobs. Reid’s experience helped him recognize something most employers do not: Up to 20 percent of working parents care for a child with a physical, mental or emotional problem that can wreak havoc on an employee’s routine.
"One of the things we discovered is that many companies did not even know about employees who might have a child with special needs," says Christina Fluet, director of a federally funded study sponsored by Mass General Hospital for Children. Many people consider only children who use wheelchairs to be disabled, she says. But parents of kids with asthma, congenital heart disease, obesity or attention-deficit disorder routinely face extra doctor visits, meetings with teachers, physical therapy assessments, high medical bills and problems at day-care. Yet they’re reluctant to ask their employers for help, says Marianne Stook, vice president of marketing services for resource and referral service LifeCare. "Employees are somewhat embarrassed about admitting it," she says. Those parents depend on their employer-sponsored healthcare plans, says Linda Roundtree, president of Roundtree Consulting in Renton, Wash., whose son has Down’s syndrome, and might fear they will lose their jobs if they ask for help.
The good news, she says, is that many companies already allow the flexibility these parents need. "Their needs are really not different from employees who are caring for an elder parent or other relatives with a chronic disease or disability."
Still, they need help with the paperwork and assessments that are necessary before their children can enroll in community and school programs that cater to their situations.
A company’s resource and referral program, notes Stook, can educate parents about what they need to do and find caregivers who are qualified to look after a child with a disability. "We save them all the legwork," says Stook.
Fluet isn’t surprised. "The discretionary effort that they exert far exceeds employees in a different situation because these employees are so thankful, and they’re willing to put out the extra effort for their employer," she says.
Contact: Christina Fluet at cfluet@partners.org
