Thank you for hearing the concern and adding the exception to parent employment in section 4.4.4.1 

The sentence, "All children can benefit from structure and socialization; however, this alone is not a qualifier for specialized child care" seems unnecessary. The criteria was clearly stated in the first paragraph and this statement is not made for any other special service types which the same could be said for other special services. It's actually offensive to a parent who has a child being considered under this category and doesn't seem to add value to the policy.   

In section 4.4.4.2, thank you for the exception for situations when no provider is available who is licensed as a therapeutic child day provider or the provider cannot meet the needs of the child due to age restrictions. 

I believe policy continues not to recognize the current industry practice of co-locating children with significant special needs in traditional child care centers as recognized by licensing. There are grants currently available to help traditional child care centers better manage children with significant special needs. One example is the Virginia ECMHC, a program through UVA, that's free to families and child care centers. 

Based on this policy, if a licensed therapeutic child day provider becomes available, a child would need to move to another provider to continue eligibility under the exception. This would be less than ideal for a child with these needs.