‘Claire takes the kids no one else wants’

Two families who could soon be at risk of losing after school support for their children with complex needs fear the impact the closure of the centre would have on their children’s future.

Founded by Claire Callan, Little Wonders in Castleblayney provides an after school service, Saturday club and camps for children from the ages of four to 18 years old with additional needs. It is the only after school service of its kind in Cavan and Monaghan.

The Celt understands that due to funding issues - where additional funding has been requested for the past two years, the early intervention centre may be forced to close its doors before the end of the year. Parents called politicians to attend a public meeting on the issue last Monday.

The centre, which supports 25 families and has a waitlist of 47 families, recently increased its capacity by moving to a larger premises during the summer. It was also awarded Outstanding Small to Medium Business at the inaugural The Anglo-Celt Monaghan Business and Tourism Awards earlier this year.

Kathleen Maguire’s son Ciaran and Bernie McNamee’s son Cormac both joined the centre after their families reached a critical emergency situation, where they were unable to provide the support their children needed at home.

Ciaran is diagnosed with autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder and OCD. The 13 year old has previously attended four different schools, and has experienced reduced school hours and suspensions. He has been attending the “phenomenal” Monaghan Community Special School since it opened last October, where Kathleen has been able to become a school escort for Ciaran.

Respite had been sought for the family during lockdown when things worsened; but it wasn’t until Kathleen’s husband was hospitalised for an unrelated illness towards the end of 2022 that Ciaran started attending the centre, at which point the family were “in crisis”.

At the time, Ciaran was only getting an hour and a half in school before travelling more than 30 minutes to attend the centre in Castleblayney, which allowed Kathleen to visit her husband in hospital, knowing her son was safe.

Claire initially worked directly with Ciaran on a one to one basis before other staff were also brought in to support him. “Slowly” changes became evident in him, and he was integrated with the other children. Although Ciaran could talk - he was “verbal but non-verbal”, he couldn’t tell people “how his day went” at first.

His communication has since improved greatly and through Little Wonders, her son has “come on leaps and bounds.”

“They’re teachers without getting paid as teachers,” Kathleen says of the centre’s staff. “Each member of that staff could teach schools how to work with our kids.”

She takes comfort in knowing that her child is “thought of as a person” there.

“I know that he’s safe, he’s loved, he’s respected,” the Glaslough native praises.

The service allows Kathleen to “get a break”, and to spend time with her three other children.

She is “so afraid of what is going to happen” if the centre closed, which she believes would be “devastating”, with children experiencing “regression” and “self-harming”.

“The people who are making the decisions are the ones who have caused anxiety and fear in our families,” says Kathleen.

“They have brought our families to our knees, to our breaking point.

“Claire takes the kids that no one else wants. And my child is one of them. Only for her, we would be nowhere.”

Kathleen became familiar with Bernie and Cormac though local groups, and their two boys were “always very similar”. Both Kathleen and Bernie praised the support they received from the local CDNT (children’s disability network team).

Cormac has a diagnosis of severe autism, intellectual disability, ADHD, challenging behaviours and sensory processing disorder.

Bernie’s family similarly entered “complete crisis” during lockdown, where he was smashing things around the house and lashing out.

“I felt I was existing just to keep this child safe and alive,” Bernie remembers, as he was a “danger to himself.”

After an attempt at medication caused her son to have a psychotic attack, Bernie contacted everyone within the CDNT and “literally begged on [her] hands and knees for help”.

Cormac then began attending Little Wonders. Claire “had her work cut out for her” and it “wasn’t an easy transition”, but “she persevered” and “never gave up”.

“Everyone else had given up on us,” Bernie says.

“There was no one else that was going to be able to help us. Claire was our last resort.”

The Clones-based family “mentally weren’t fit” to do what Claire could do. Although it took “a bit of time”, she “worked her magic”, Cormac got into a comfortable routine and they were able to get “bits of [their] life back.”

Now, the 13 year old is a “happier child” - provided he knows his “very rigid” routine, and the family are able to take him to different places, such as parks.

“We are still a family split in two but not to the same extent we were before we had Claire,” says Bernie.

Cormac now attends the Holy Family School in Cootehill, from where he is collected and brought to the Castleblayney premises. The centre has a total of three vans, used to collect children from local schools.

The potential closure gives Bernie “huge anxiety” with the “dreaded fear” of returning to a similar situation as during lockdown. She is also concerned about the loss of freedom and, perhaps, having to give up her position as secretary in St Enda’s National School in Scotshouse - a role she only took up after Cormac got into Little Wonders. Bernie was also able bring her two other children on holidays abroad for the first time earlier this year.

“It will affect my whole family,” Bernie says if Little Wonders closes.

“I’m really hoping it doesn’t go there but I know there’ll be no other service to take Cormac.”

“Unfortunately, Cormac is that child that nobody wants. Nobody wants the hassle of him, he’s too severe for them. The only people that ever wanted him was Little Wonders, and as horrible as that sounds, that’s the reality of our life.”

And the impact is not only felt by parents. Cormac’s older sister Brianna has grown up seeing Cormac as the "main focus" of the household and "always tied" to their mother Bernie.

Since Cormac started attending Little Wonders , Brianna has seen the positive impact the service has had on her younger brother, particularly as he now talks “a lot more” and has “so many more words” than before.

“Now, I can have a full conversation with him,” Brianna enthuses.

“Even if he’s only saying a few words back, he knows what I mean and I know what he means. We’re like best friends now.”

Where she previously had little contact with Cormac, the siblings have now developed their own nightly ritual.

“We have this thing - he says, ‘See you later, alligator. In a while, crocodile.’ He says it every night to me,” Brianna says fondly.

“That just shows, Claire helps so much.”

The 16 year old has also previously worked in the centre, which has given her “so much experience”. There, she saw first-hand how staff work with the children, how they learn and improve, and how they were "all happy" from being in a routine.

As a fifth year student, the two hours after school where she can do her homework “in silence” gives Brianna extra time to concentrate on her work without distraction. She is also grateful for the freedom afforded to the family on Saturdays.

The prospect of closure “really scares” Brianna because the centre has had “such a big impact” on Cormac’s life, and has also become part of her life.

“They’ve always been like a second family to us and without them, we would not be able to do half the things we can do now.”

In response to a query on funding for the centre from this newspaper, a spokesperson for HSE Dublin and North East said: “HSE Disability Services in Cavan and Monaghan Integrated Healthcare Area (IHA) funds Little Wonders, which operates under the name Klaine Childcare Ltd as a contracted HSE service provider, delivering alternative respite services to support families of children with complex needs.

“HSE Disability Services in Cavan Monaghan have met regularly with the owner of Klaine Childcare Ltd and continues to support and assist them with their financial submission for additional funding.”