Family & Community Special Communities
Special Education

OSEP’s Report on the Monitoring of Massachusetts

IV. Part C: Family-Centered System of Services

Research has shown that improved outcomes for young children are most likely to occur when services are based on the premise that parents or primary caregivers are the most important factors influencing a child's development. Family-centered practices are those in which families are involved in all aspects of the decision-making, families' culture and values are respected, and families are provided with accurate and sufficient information to be able to make informed decisions. A family-centered approach keeps the focus on the developmental needs of the child, while including family concerns and needs in the decision-making process. Family-centered practices include establishing trust and rapport with families, and helping families develop skills to best meet their child's needs.

Parents and other family members are recognized as the linchpins of Part C. As such, States must include parents as an integral part of decision-making and service provision, from assessments, through development of the IFSP, to transition activities before their child turns three. Parents bring a wealth of knowledge about their own children and family's abilities and dreams for the future, as well as an understanding of the community in which they live. In 1986, Part C of the IDEA was recognized as the first piece of Federal legislation to specifically focus attention on the needs of the family related to enhancing the development of children with disabilities. In enacting Part C, Congress acknowledged the need to support families and enhance their capacity to meet the needs of their infants and toddlers with disabilities. On the cutting edge of education legislation, Part C challenged systems of care to focus on the family as the unit of services, rather than the child. Viewing the child in the context of her/his family and the family in the context of their community, Congress created challenges for the States as they designed and implemented a family-centered system of services.

Validation Planning and Data Collection

Several sections of the Part C Self-Study provided information relative to the family's satisfaction with their involvement in the early intervention system. More than one-third of the families responding indicated positive experiences concerning policy information and the implementation of services, which met child and family needs. Providers indicated that multiple funding streams for children birth to three administered by DPH were duplicative and acted as barriers to carrying out services. Some respondents felt that the State's reimbursement system drives service delivery models, which are not congruent with addressing child and family needs and outcomes within a community context. It was reported that paperwork demands prevented staff from meeting family needs.

One of the focus questions asked during the public input meetings was: "Are family and child outcomes enhanced by family-centered supports and systems of services?" Parents, providers and advocates reported that while many programs do have staff who are fluent in languages other than English, there is an increasing need for qualified providers representing diverse cultures in rural parts of the State.

At the end of the Validation Planning week, after discussing information obtained through the Self-Study and public input process, the Steering Committee requested that OSEP investigate the following concern/issue: the provision of family-centered services by culturally representative staff. OSEP reviewed State personnel data and found that 30 percent of the early intervention staff are bilingual.

To investigate the concern identified during the Validation Planning process, OSEP collected information from the review of children's records and State and local policies and procedures, and interviews of State personnel, local program directors, service coordinators/providers, and parents and interagency collaborators and did not find areas of noncompliance.

OSEP reviewed and analyzed the data and identified the following strength.

A. Strength

Parent Participation in Service Delivery at Local and State Level
The DPH promotes the participation of families in the planning and implementation of services to their children and in statewide system development and monitoring of program policies and procedures. The Parent Leadership Resources Project is one example of the State's commitment to parent/ professional partnerships. DPH provides funding and support for the Project, which employs parent consultants. Parents facilitate parent-to-parent networking, provide parent participation resource materials to local early intervention programs, and act as conduits for the flow of information from local programs to and from DPH and the State Interagency Coordinating Council. Parents and professional early intervention personnel conduct joint in-service training activities, a model, which enhances family-centered approaches because of the active participation of parent trainers and shared leadership.