Child Find activities are the responsibility of each Local Education Agency (LEA) and occur prior to a referral for special education services. These activities are designed to locate individuals, birth through 21 years of age, including children not enrolled in public school programs as well as children who are homeless or wards of the state and reside in the district and may be eligible for and in need of special education and/or related services. (E.C. § 56300 and 56301)
Child Find is triggered by onboarding and offboarding of students in the district.
Tracking onboarding Child Find in SIRAS can primarily be done thru tracking Pending and Active records.
Tracking offboarding Child Find should be done with external data source. Ex. SIS system or shared spreadsheet.
This is an enrollment follow up task and the SIRAS record may be requested away from your district as the family possibly explores enrolling in neighboring districts. Thus using current data is not recommended as current data may be requested to another LEA (where they don't actually end up enrolling) and follow-up opportunity missed.
CA Special Education Local Plan Areas Statement on Child Find
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The California Legislature implements the provisions of IDEA through the California Master Plan for Special Education. This plan was first implemented statewide in 1980 with the passage of Senate Bill 1870.
Some of the major areas covered by state and federal laws are the following:
- Child Find - Each public school system is responsible to find children with disabilities in its area
- Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) - Each public school system is responsible for ensuring that each child with disabilities is served appropriately, at no expense to the parent
- Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) - Each child is assured of his/her right of education with non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of both
- Due Process - The right of parent participation, and challenge, in all aspects of assessment, identification and placement is assured; involves mediation or administrative hearing procedures and complaint procedure in case of disputes
- Individualized Educational Program (IEP) - The right of a child to an educational program designed to meet his/her individual needs and based on adequate assessment is assured. At age 14 to 16 this includes the development of an Individual Transition Plan (ITP) to provide for transition into the world of work.
