DREDF Launches Foster Children with Disabilities Resource Center
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
- Organization: DREDF
The Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) is pleased to announce the creation of our Foster Children with Disabilities Resource Center (FCDRC).
The first of its kind to be funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Project will begin operating in October 2006 as a Community Parent Resource Center, providing information, training, and advocacy support to foster caregivers, family members, older foster youth, child welfare workers, and dependency personnel in Alameda County, California. As part of its mission, the FCDRC will work collaboratively with the Alameda County Office of Education's Foster Youth Services Program, the Alameda County Foster Youth Alliance, the Alameda County Social Services Agency, and local education agencies.
Research confirms that children in foster care are often denied the rights guaranteed to them under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal special education law that was first enacted in 1975. Approximately 40% of children in foster care are in special education. Despite this disproportionate number, an Education Issue Brief published in 2002 by Casey Family Programs ("Improving Special Education for Children with Disabilities in Foster Care") also concluded that identification of foster care children for special education services is seriously inadequate, and that many more children in foster care may be eligible for or in need of special education services.
Special education is an advocacy-based system; many studies have documented the fact that children who have consistent, knowledgeable advocates are most likely to receive appropriate services and supports. From the overwhelming evidence about the incidence of disability among foster children, the Casey report concludes that child welfare workers urgently need training in special education systems - a recommendation echoed locally by the Bay Area Social Services Consortium in 2000 ("Education For Foster Children: Removing Barriers to Academic Success").
Complementing its training and advocacy services, the FCDRC will provide materials and practical guidance on the special education system to foster caregivers, family members, county social workers, school administrators, and dependency personnel to help them understand their respective responsibilities and the oversight provisions of special education and other disability laws. Most important, FCDRC personnel will train and mentor kinship and foster caregivers and family members to advocate effectively at legally required Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings for their children to ensure that they receive adequate educational supports.
Founded in 1979, DREDF is a national law and policy center dedicated to advancing and protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities. Headquartered in Berkeley, California, DREDF is staff- and board-led primarily by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. For over 20 years, DREDF has been a Parent Training and Information Center (PTI), part of a nationwide system of centers that help to realize the educational rights of children with disabilities. Our PTI currently covers Alameda, Contra Costa, and Yolo counties in Northern California, offering information, training and advocacy services to families of children and young adults from birth to age 22 with all types of disabilities: physical, sensory, cognitive, learning and emotional.
As part of our nationwide activities, DREDF also undertakes other law and policy activities designed to protect and further special education rights. For over 25 years we have worked to shape national education policy, and we collaborate in coalitions on a local, state, and national level to monitor implementation and compliance with laws. When the U.S. Congress began a periodic reauthorization of IDEA in 2002, DREDF launched the Rapid Response Network (RRN) to keep parents around the country informed of the process. We also provide party and amicus representation in high impact litigation cases affecting the most important educational rights of children with disabilities.
The first of its kind to be funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Project will begin operating in October 2006 as a Community Parent Resource Center, providing information, training, and advocacy support to foster caregivers, family members, older foster youth, child welfare workers, and dependency personnel in Alameda County, California. As part of its mission, the FCDRC will work collaboratively with the Alameda County Office of Education's Foster Youth Services Program, the Alameda County Foster Youth Alliance, the Alameda County Social Services Agency, and local education agencies.
Research confirms that children in foster care are often denied the rights guaranteed to them under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal special education law that was first enacted in 1975. Approximately 40% of children in foster care are in special education. Despite this disproportionate number, an Education Issue Brief published in 2002 by Casey Family Programs ("Improving Special Education for Children with Disabilities in Foster Care") also concluded that identification of foster care children for special education services is seriously inadequate, and that many more children in foster care may be eligible for or in need of special education services.
Special education is an advocacy-based system; many studies have documented the fact that children who have consistent, knowledgeable advocates are most likely to receive appropriate services and supports. From the overwhelming evidence about the incidence of disability among foster children, the Casey report concludes that child welfare workers urgently need training in special education systems - a recommendation echoed locally by the Bay Area Social Services Consortium in 2000 ("Education For Foster Children: Removing Barriers to Academic Success").
Complementing its training and advocacy services, the FCDRC will provide materials and practical guidance on the special education system to foster caregivers, family members, county social workers, school administrators, and dependency personnel to help them understand their respective responsibilities and the oversight provisions of special education and other disability laws. Most important, FCDRC personnel will train and mentor kinship and foster caregivers and family members to advocate effectively at legally required Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings for their children to ensure that they receive adequate educational supports.
Founded in 1979, DREDF is a national law and policy center dedicated to advancing and protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities. Headquartered in Berkeley, California, DREDF is staff- and board-led primarily by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. For over 20 years, DREDF has been a Parent Training and Information Center (PTI), part of a nationwide system of centers that help to realize the educational rights of children with disabilities. Our PTI currently covers Alameda, Contra Costa, and Yolo counties in Northern California, offering information, training and advocacy services to families of children and young adults from birth to age 22 with all types of disabilities: physical, sensory, cognitive, learning and emotional.
As part of our nationwide activities, DREDF also undertakes other law and policy activities designed to protect and further special education rights. For over 25 years we have worked to shape national education policy, and we collaborate in coalitions on a local, state, and national level to monitor implementation and compliance with laws. When the U.S. Congress began a periodic reauthorization of IDEA in 2002, DREDF launched the Rapid Response Network (RRN) to keep parents around the country informed of the process. We also provide party and amicus representation in high impact litigation cases affecting the most important educational rights of children with disabilities.
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