Child Loss Retreats

Do you allow pets? Child Loss Retreats do not allow family pets, but we proudly adhere to the standards set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that provides protections and rights to a person with a disability. That means that any person with a service animal is welcome. Federal law (ADA) specify that a person with a disability is permitted to use a service animal in establishments such as restaurants, retail stores, and other businesses. However, the law does not protect the use of an emotional support animal in those places. Service Animal Defined by Title II and Title III of the ADA A service animal means any dog (or, miniature horse) that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Tasks performed can include, among other things: -pulling a wheelchair -retrieving dropped items -alerting a person to a sound -reminding a person to take medication -pressing an elevator button Examples of animals that fit the ADA’s definition of “service animal” because they have been specifically trained to perform a task for the person with a disability: -Guide Dog or Seeing Eye® Dog is a carefully trained dog that serves as a travel tool for persons who have severe visual impairments or are blind. -Hearing or Signal Dog is a dog that has been trained to alert a person who has a significant hearing loss or is deaf when a sound occurs. -Psychiatric Service Dog is a dog that has been trained to perform tasks that assist individuals with disabilities to detect the onset of psychiatric episodes and lessen their effects. -SSigDOG (sensory signal dogs or social signal dog) is a dog trained to assist a person with autism. -Seizure Response Dog is a dog trained to assist a person with a seizure disorder. Emotional support animals, comfort animals, and therapy dogs are not service animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not considered service animals either. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability. It does not matter if a person has a note from a doctor that states that the person has a disability and needs to have the animal for emotional support. A doctor’s letter does not turn an animal into a service animal. While Emotional Support Animals or Comfort Animals are often used as part of a medical treatment plan as therapy animals, they are not considered service animals under the ADA. These support animals provide companionship, relieve loneliness, and sometimes help with depression, anxiety, and certain phobias, but do not have special training to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities. Even though some states have laws defining therapy animals, these animals are not limited to working with people with disabilities and therefore are not covered by federal laws protecting the use of service animals. (source ADA National Network)