Funding system for special needs childcare in the Caribbean Netherlands

Amsterdam Bureau for Economics (EBA) has conducted research for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment into the costs of special needs childcare in the Caribbean Netherlands. Special needs childcare is childcare for children with additional support needs and for this research EBA looked at the additional costs that childcare organisations and Expertise Centers Education Care will incur compared to children without additional support needs. Expertise Centers will become the second line in the care structure.

Offering special needs childcare results in additional costs for childcare organisations, for example because more intensive staffing is required, a higher training requirement applies, and children sometimes need more space and more expensive materials. For the Expertise Centers Education Care, the activities for extra childcare result in new costs, as they now also have tasks for children under the age of 4.

In the EBA advice, childcare organisations receive compensation per child-day session for children in special needs childcare. In addition, EBA proposes that organisations can submit a one-off application for funding for special expenses. The additional compensation for Expertise Centers Education Care is calculated in the proposal on the basis of the number of children on the island under the age of 4.

The report (in Dutch, with a summary in English and Papiamentu) can be read here.