Summer camp for special needs children, adults may not open

WARM SPRINGS, Ga. - Hundreds of children and adults with disabilities are heartbroken after learning the doors to a special needs camp may not open this summer.

Organizers for Camp Dream claim the state of Georgia won't allow them to use the all-inclusive Warm Springs facility due to lack of accreditation.

"It's like the Grinch who stole summer camp from 200 severely disabled adults and kids," Parent Katie McKoy said.

Katie McKoy has three children-all with special needs.

Every summer her kids go to Camp Dream in Warm Springs, but this year McKoy's children and hundreds of other kids and adults with moderate to severe special needs may have nowhere to go.

"When I found out, my heart sank," McKoy said.

The issue is Camp Dream's accreditation.

The Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency told FOX 5, "We offered Camp Dream an opportunity to use our facilities this year if the organization partnered with an accredited entity or if all the other criteria were met, with an ACA inspection scheduled. Those offers were not pursued. Therefore, lacking proof of steps to secure accreditation we will be unable to host the organization at this time.

"How am I going to tell my children that the one thing they look forward to all year, the one thing that gives them hope is now canceled?" McKoy said.

According to Camp Dream they're in compliance with the American Camp Association accreditation process and have tried several times to prove that to the state.

McKoy said this is a major blow and will devastate so many who already have so much heartache in their lives.

"This is so wrong," McKoy said. "You're hurting disabled children, adults, and families."