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Other Important Questions & Issues

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What rights do parents, foster parents, and surrogate parents have?

Where can I get more information or help?

What rights do parents, foster parents, and surrogate parents have?
The law says that parents and children have certain rights:

• You can look at all of your child's records;
• You can be part of any meeting about your child's evaluation, placement, or program;
• A child's rights will be protected when the parents can't be found, before surrogate parents are chosen;
• You must be told in advance, in your primary language, if the LEA wants to make a change in your child's placement or program;
• You can have mediation if you don't agree with the LEA's actions; and
• You can complain about your child's identification, evaluation, or placement.

If you have a complaint, you can start an administrative due process hearing. The state holds this hearing, called a "fair hearing." Parents and children can go to the hearing. You can also ask for mediation at any time.

Parents, surrogate parents, and the LEA have these rights during a hearing:

• The right to a lawyer or other expert;
• The right to have a witness, disagree with a witness, cross-examine a witness, or force them to come to the hearing;
• The right to a get a record of the hearing;
• The right to keep evidence out of the hearing if you weren't told about it at least 5 days before the hearing;
• The right to a decision within 45 days after the LEA gets a letter asking for a hearing; and
• If you win, the right to have the other side pay for your lawyer.

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Where can I get more information or help?
Write to:
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY)
P.O. Box 1492
Washington, D.C. 20013

Or call them at:
1-800-695-0285.
Ask them where you can go for help.

Or, click here to go to the NICHCY Web site .

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