parents should be aware of any such general orders in their county as well as specific orders regarding particular students and should consult with their legal counsel as needed to obtain access to records or to obtain permission to share information when necessary. To ensure the confidentiality of all records, it is advised that LEAs provide detailed training to surrogate parents to ensure that protected information will not be released and will be appropriately returned or destroyed when the surrogate parent appointment ends. Such an assurance should facilitate the case management interaction with the non-educational agencies.
Local Mental Health Providers’ Intervention
When a surrogate parent is appointed and agrees that there is a need for local mental health providers’ involvement, California Government Code Section 7579.5(c) authorizes the surrogate parent to give written consent for nonemergency medical services, mental health treatment services, and occupational or physical therapy services relative to the IEP of the child being represented (see also California Education Code Section 56050[b] ).
Monitoring and Complaint Procedures
This section describes various methods for state and local oversight of surrogate parent appointment programs. LEAs are encouraged to maintain adequate records of appointment, training, and monitoring of the surrogate parent program. Likewise, individual surrogate parents are trained and encouraged to comply with appropriate record-keeping policies, procedures, and methods to ensure that each student’s needs for special education and related services are appropriately represented in meetings of the IEP team. To ensure that surrogate parent programs are compliant with both federal and state law, these programs are monitored through the California Department of Education’s Quality Assurance Process ( California Education Code Section 56045 ). If a compliance complaint is filed by a surrogate parent, it will be handled pursuant to Title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, sections 300.151 – 300.153; California Education Code sections 56043(p) and 56500.2; and Title 5, California Code of Regulations, sections 4600 – 4671 . A surrogate parent is also entitled to request a due process hearing to resolve a dispute over the content of an IEP pursuant to California Education Code Section 56500 , et seq. Complaints arising under the interagency coordination statute can be addressed pursuant to California Government Code Section 7585 . Other agencies and departments interacting with the child will have distinct monitoring and complaint procedures with which the LEA must coordinate. When contracting with a nonpublic school or agency to provide special education and related services for eligible students, the LEA should consider whether its contract provisions ensure access for surrogate parents. In addition, public, non-educational agencies have established complaint procedures in place to ensure that the best interests of the child are always the primary concern of any assigned staff.
Chapter 4 – Procedural Safeguards, Charter SELPA
Page 66
As of 11/18/2016
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