Jan 22, 2008
Congress originally passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) in 1974 to provide federal funding to states to support Child Protective Service Agencies to help prevent child abuse. Over the years, CAPTA has been amended several times, most recently in 2003 by the Keeping Families and Children Safe Act. Additionally, research has found that children who are abused or neglected often have physical, mental, or emotional problems requiring specialized intervention. Thus, the 2003 CAPTA amendments require that states that receive CAPTA funds develop procedures to refer children who are under the age of three and are involved in a substantiated case of abuse or neglect to Early Intervention Services under Part C of the IDEA. The IDEA’s Part C requires that states have a coordinated interagency program of early intervention services for children with disabilities from birth through age two. Moreover, when the IDEA was amended in 2004, Congress also required ,through Part C, that states have procedures for referring a child who is under the age of three and who is involved in a substantiated case of abuse or neglect for early intervention services under Part C.
Historically, child welfare workers and early intervention providers have done their good work from within their respective systems, often unaware of how the other system worked. There are differences in the two systems. Child welfare services’ mission is generally keeping children safe. To that end, child welfare workers may work to strengthen families, but their primary focus is protecting the child. Unlike early intervention services, child welfare services may require court involvement, termination of parental rights, and many abused or neglected children are placed out of the home in foster care. Again, while child welfare workers may try to support the family, their mission is to keep the child safe, not to ensure family input and choice in the child protection process.
On the other hand, under the IDEA Part C early intervention services focus on working cooperatively with families to ensure that infants and toddlers with disabilities receive the early intervention services they need. Under Part C, early intervention services are designed with family involvement and provided through an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). Part C emphasizes family choice and input. Moreover, Part C contains specific procedural safeguards for families including the right to informed consent to evaluation and services, appeal rights, and provides for surrogate parents for children without parents. Connecting infants and toddlers who have been abused or neglected to Part C early intervention services requires that the two systems, child welfare and early intervention providers, work together. It is important, therefore, that child welfare workers and early intervention service providers understand how both systems work.
To that end, many states have developed interagency agreements between the state child welfare agency and lead agency for Part C early intervention services to ensure cooperation between the two systems. Moreover, many state and local representatives of the two systems have provided conferences, regularly scheduled meetings, and cross trainings to help their colleagues understand how the systems can work together on behalf of children. For information on what is happening in your state you can contact your state child welfare agency through the Child Information Gateway website and/or your state’s Part C lead agency which you can find at the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) website.
