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Legal & Licensing

The following links may be of interest as you search the world wide web for information on inclusive child care and other related topics. Many of the sites listed below are good starting points for additional links. The descriptions come from the sites themselves and are not offered with any official Map to Inclusive Child Care or WestEd endorsement.*
 
Updated July 27, 2010
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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 20th Anniversary

Find links and resources celebrating the ADA.

ADA Document Center

This website contains online copies of fact sheets, regulations, technical assistance manuals and guidelines related to the ADA, including extensive list of links to other general disability-related web pages.

A Parent’s Guide to the American’s with Disabilities Act and Child Care
[Adobe Acrobat Reader Icon Acrobat Required]

Developed by the Map to Inclusive Child Care Project, this downloadable brochure answers important questions about the ADA and private child care. What is the Americans with Disabilities Act? What exactly does the ADA require child care programs to do? How can I help a child care program meet my child’s needs? The answers to these questions and more are found in this brochure.

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a national organization that focuses on legal advocacy for the civil rights and human dignity of people with mental illness.

California Department of Developmental Disabilities

The California Department of Developmental Services is the agency through which the State of California provides services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities.

These disabilities include mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism and related conditions. Services are provided through state-operated developmental centers and community facilities, and contracts with 21 nonprofit regional centers. The regional centers serve as a local resource to help find and access the services and supports available to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

For information on programs and resources for children ages birth to 3 visit the Birth to 36 Months Home Page. You’ll find information about the Prevention Program and California Early Start. Significant changes were made to Early Start as of October 2009. The links below describe these changes.

California Department of Education Child Development Division (CDD)

Provides leadership and support to contractors and the child development community, ensuring high quality early education programs are provided to children ages birth to 13 years.

California Department of Fair Employment And Housing

The mission of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing is to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, and from the perpetration of acts of hate violence.

Phone: (Voice) 800-884-1684 or (TTY) 800-700-2320

California Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division

The State of California regulates child care in an effort to protect the health and safety of participating children’s personal rights. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS), Community Care Licensing Division (CCL), is responsible for licensing child care centers and family child care homes. The state does not regulate certain types of child care, such as in-home care or persons who care for the children from just one family. Licensing regulates the number of children to be cared for as well as the number of adult caregivers. Licensing sets staff and caregiver qualifications that are based on education and experience. The caregiver or center must meet specific health, nutrition, maintenance, and safety requirements.

Child Care and the ADA

Child care centers whether privately or publicly operated must conform to ADA standards in order to meet the needs of special children.This website is under the U.S. Department of Justice.

Child Care Law Center

The Child Care Law Center (CCLC) is a national nonprofit legal services organization that uses legal tools to make high quality, affordable child care available to every child, every family and every community. It is the only organization in the country devoted exclusively to the complex legal issues that affect child care.

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Disability Law Handbook

This handbook is a broad overview of rights and obligations under federal disability laws. Individual state laws may impose more stringent obligations. This handbook is intended to inform rather than to advise, and the information provided is of a general nature. You should consult an attorney for advice about your particular situation. The Handbook is downloadable at this site or available for purchase.

Disability Rights California

Disability Rights California works to bring about fairness and justice for people with disabilities. To reach those goals of fairness and justice, they may: file lawsuits on behalf of individuals or groups: investigate charges of abuse and neglect; build peer/self advocacy groups; forge community partnerships; advocate for change in laws, regulations, and public policy, and provide information to those who may not know about their rights.

Additional Resources

Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF)

Founded in 1979 by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc. (DREDF) is a national law and policy center dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities through legislation, litigation, advocacy, technical assistance, and education and training of attorneys, advocates, persons with disabilities, and parents of children with disabilities.

DREDF is also the Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) for Alameda, Contra Costa, and Yolo counties in Northern California. Their parent advocates provide technical assistance to parents to help guide them through the special education process. If parents live in these counties and have a child with a disability (0-22 years) or suspect their child may have an undiagnosed disability, they can call DREDF for assistance with obtaining services the child needs to receive a free appropriate public education. If you live outside of DREDF’s service area, go to www.taalliance.org/Centers to find the PTI closest to you.

2212 Sixth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone (Voice & TTY): 800-348-4232 or 510-644-2555
Fax: 510-841-8645
E-mail: info@dredf.org

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IDEA: Building the Legacy of IDEA 2004

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities.

Infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth-2) and their families receive early intervention services under IDEA Part C. Children and youth (ages 3-21) receive special education and related services under IDEA Part B.

IDEA Partnership

The IDEA Partnership is dedicated to improving outcomes for students and youth with disabilities by joining state agencies and stakeholders through shared work and learning.

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LearningPort

LearningPort is a national professional development library of learning modules, tool kits, archived webinars and video resources designed by U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to support the use of ARRA funds. The library was made available though a supplement to NASDSE's IDEA Partnership. Larry Wexler, Director of OSEP's Research to Practice Division expressed the intent of The LearningPort in this way: "We believe that after saving jobs, most school districts would use at least some of their ARRA funds to support the provision of professional development. As such, we wanted to develop a resource for States. Below are two examples of ports to training materials especially useful for preschool:

Additional Resources

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Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDF)

Founded in 1968 MALDF is the nations leading non-profit Latino legal organization. MALDF promotes equality and justice through advocacy, litigation, public policy, and education in the areas of employment, immigrants’ rights, political access, voting rights and language rights.

National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center

The National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC), a service of the Child Care Bureau, is a national clearinghouse and technical assistance (TA) center that provides comprehensive child care information resources and TA services to Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Administrators and other key stakeholders.

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United States Access Board

The Access Board is an independent federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. Created in 1973 to ensure access to federally funded facilities, the Board is now a leading source of information on accessible design. The Board develops and maintains design criteria for the built environment, transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and for electronic and information technology. It also provides technical assistance and training on these requirements and on accessible design and continues to enforce accessibility standards that cover federally funded facilities.

1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20004-1111
Phone: 800-872-2253

United States Department of Justice

The USDOJ home page on the Americans with Disabilities Act has a wealth of information, including links to federal agencies with ADA responsibilities in addition to ADA publications. A “What’s New” section is available as is “ADA Standards for Accessible Design.”

Phone: (Voice) 800-514-0301 or (TTY) 800-514-0383

Unruh Civil Rights Act

The Unruh Civil Rights Act is California’s primary civil rights law that guarantees full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges or services in all business establishments to all persons regardless of medical condition or disability. The California law incorporates ADA but provides even more expansive protections. Private child care programs, such as family child care homes and centers whether serving infants and toddlers, preschoolers or schoolagers, are considered business establishments under Unruh. People who feel they have been discriminated against may either file private lawsuits through a private attorney or they can file a complaints with the Caliornia Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the agency charged with enforcing the Unruh Civil Rights act, within one year of the violation.

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Wrightslaw

Parents, advocates, educators, and attorneys come to Wrightslaw for accurate, up-to-date information about special education law and advocacy for children with disabilities. The website contains articles, cases, newsletters, and resources about dozens of topics in the Advocacy Libraries and Law Libraries.

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* Map to Inclusive Child Care and WestEd do NOT endorse or assume any responsibility for information found on these sites. The following links are provided as a source of information and resources. Please e-mail us information about other sites that will add depth and knowledge to these listings.