Examining Government Regulations

Essay by axlianoCollege, UndergraduateA+, September 2009

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It seems like children with disabilities all the benefits they need during their school years. But do the parents of these children have any benefit at all? Loprest and Martinson (2008) informed that many children with disabilities' parents suffer from unemployment. Many of children with disabilities need to be supervised by a responsible adult and in most cases are the parents who have to supervise. During school hours teachers assume the responsibility for these children, but during after school hours, weekends, vacations, and other times, is the parents' job to take care of the children with disabilities (Ogle County Educational Cooperative (OCEC), 2006).

Sturtevant and Elliot (1994) mentioned that "two million of the three million children and youth experiencing a serious emotional disturbance, and their families, in this country were not receiving adequate services." Because many children with disabilities' families are living in poverty, "…the only means of getting services has been to give up custody of their child or place their child in an institution" (Sturtevant and Elliot, 1994).

Koyanagi (1994) mentioned that sometimes parents that cannot go to work, because they need to take care of their disable child, receive help only from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid) and in some cases from the Supplemental Social Income (SSI). But these helps are not enough to take care of the family needs.

For this reason there are two laws which parents must fully understand in order to be effective advocates for their child. The OCEC (2006) mentions the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Individuals with disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are two separate laws that that guarantee the rights of children with disabilities to free and appropriate public education. Section 504 is a civil rights law designed to...