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All through the month of February, we have been sharing information about Child Find.

Child Find is a requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Act and its purpose is to identify, locate and evaluate all children from birth through 21 years of age who may have disabilities and who also may need early intervention or special education services. Any parent or caregiver who is concerned about their child’s speech, learning, behavior or development can make a Child Find request.

The Mississippi Department of Education’s Child Find Evaluation and Eligibility Procedures outline how school districts are to implement Child Find in Mississippi. School districts have an obligation to actively look for students who they suspect might have disabilities that affect their learning and evaluate them with their parent’s or caregiver’s permission.  Appendix CF.D in the procedures provides an overview of the process.

We thought it might be helpful to outline how the Child Find process works and the steps that parents and caregivers can follow if they have concerns about their child.

Step 1: The Child Find process usually starts when your child is identified as possibly needing special education or related services by the school district. But you can also start this process if you have concerns by requesting that your child be evaluated. You would do so by contacting, either in writing or verbally, your child’s teacher or another school professional, or the Child Find Coordinator in the district.

If you don’t know who the special education and Child Find contacts are in your school district you can use this MDE link to find out. You may also find it helpful to download a sample letter requesting an evaluation from the resources page of our website.

Step 2: Once your child has been identified or you have made a request, the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team (MET) meets with the family within 14 days of the request to decide if an evaluation is needed, and gets permission from the parent or caregiver before an evaluation is conducted. You should bring any records or information that you think would help you describe your concerns about your child to the MET meeting.

Step 3: Your child is evaluated. This evaluation must assess all areas that could be related to your child’s disability, and the results will be used to decide your child’s eligibility for services and to make decisions about the appropriate program for your child. It is conducted by qualified professionals using observations and tests with the child, and interviews with the child’s parent or caregiver.

A written summary is provided and then a meeting is held with you to decide if your child needs special services. If you disagree with the evaluation, you have the right to get an independent educational evaluation (in addition to the district’s evaluation), and can ask that the district pay for it.

If you would like more information about Child Find you can watch our webinar recording entitled “Procedural Safeguards: What is Child Find?” on our webinars page.

We understand that the Child Find process can be confusing for parents and caregivers, so if you have any additional questions about Child Find, you are welcome to call our office at 601-355-0915. We hope this month’s focus on Child Find has been helpful to you, and as always, we welcome your comments and your feedback.