Department of Education Department could have impact on children with disabilities

Washington (AP) – for the parents of children with disabilities, pleading for their child It can be complicated, time consumer and expensive.

Changes in the education department can make the process even more difficult, say lawyers for children with disabilities.

When a parent believes for a handicapcan seek remedies in their district. They can file complaints to their state, arguing the rights of the child have been taken without a proper law or even to pursue disputes in state or federal courts.

These processes often involve multiple sessions with hearing officers who are not obliged to be experts on the disability. Legal taxes can cost tens of thousands of dollars for a single case. Legal assistance and other advocacy organizations that can provide free assistance often have more demand for their services than they can satisfy.

But fileing a complaint with the education department has long been an option for families who cannot afford a lawyer. Start by completing The Office for Civil Rights’ Online form, documenting the alleged cases of discrimination. From there, the personnel of the agency should investigate the complaint, often interviewing the school district employees and examining the rational policies for wider violations.

“He is known and has the weight of the federal government behind it,” said Dan Stewart, lawyer for education and employment at the National Dancer Rights. “The process, the complaint portal, as well as the processing manual are all in public and does not require or usually involves lawyers.”

This option seems more and more available, lawyers say.

Under President Donald Trump, The staff of the Education Department It was reduced about half – including in the Office for Civil Rights, whose lawyers are accused of investigating discrimination complaints against children with disabilities. The staff has been directed to prioritizes cases of anti -Semitism. Over 20,000 pending cases – including those related to children with disabilities, from a historical point of view, most of the office activity – has been inactive for weeks after Trump has taken over. An freezing when processing cases was raised earlier this month, but the lawyers ask if the department can progress on them with a smaller staff.

“The reduction in force is simply an evisceration of the Office for” Civil Rights Investigation Authority, “Stewart said. “There is no way in which I can see that the OCR can keep up with the delay or complaints received.”

A federal trial filed on Friday challenges dismissals at the Civil Rights Office, saying that they decimated the office’s ability to process and investigate complaints.

While the OCR process was not perfect, the reduction of the office investigation personnel will only aggravate the challenges that families are facing when they request support for their children, said Nikki Carter, a lawyer with disabilities and one of the applicants in the process.

“It makes them feel hopeless and powerless,” Carter said. “By reducing the number of employees to manage cases, putting provisions on certain cases, it only feels intensified.”

The officials of the Education Department insist that the staff discounts will not affect the investigations on civil rights, and the dismissals were “strategic decisions”.

In her state Alabama, Carter said families are facing an upward fight to find legal representation.

“They have no money for a lawyer,” she said. “Or the representation I get is not the representation that I feel will be the best for their child.”

Even if families can afford their high costs, a limited number of lawyers have expertise to take discrimination cases. Programs that offer free representation often have limited capacity.

If the delay of cases increases at the Federal Office for Civil Rights, families may lose faith in how quickly the department will investigate, Stewart said. This can lead them to alternative ways, such as filing state complaints.

But state and local agencies have not always had the ability or understanding of managing complaints for educational disabilities, said Stewart, because these cases have been so often to the US Education Department.

“They could not have the infrastructure or knowledge or staff to take the influx of cases,” Stewart said.

In a separate Federal process In the department on Thursday, the general democratic lawyers claimed that the discounts of the personnel from the education department can encourage school districts to ignore the complaints of discrimination or harassment.

“Students with current complaints will probably not see any significant resolution, with cases registered due to lack of employees to solve them,” the trial said. “Students who face discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual assault will lose a critical way to report their case.”

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