Overview to Early Identification and Child Find Systems

Both Part B and Part C of IDEA contain explicit requirements for states to actively identify children and determine their eligibility for services.

Part B of IDEA (34CFR§§ 300.111) requires a state to have policies and procedures to ensure that all children with disabilities including children with disabilities who are homeless or are wards of the state and children with disabilities attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disability, are birth to age 21 and are in need of special education and related services including children attending private schools and migrant or homeless children, are "identified, located and evaluated." Children who are suspected of being a child with a disability under Sec. 300.8 and in need of special education, even though they are advancing from grade to grade and highly mobile children, including migrant children.

Part C requires each state to have a "comprehensive child find system" with the purpose of finding children birth to age three as early as possible. The system must be consistent with Part B but also meets the additional requirements of (34CFR§§ 303.321). For Part C, the lead agency with the assistance of the state interagency coordinating council ensures that the system is coordinated with all other major efforts to locate and identify young children by other state health, education, social service and tribal agencies. This comprehensive system addresses the definition of eligibility for the state, the public awareness program, central directory, screening and referral, timelines for agencies to act on referrals, evaluation and assessment. It targets primary referral sources including hospitals, physicians, parents, daycare providers, local education agencies, public health facilities, other social service providers and other medical providers.