Understanding Institutional Obligations to Children Experiencing Trauma I: Three Federal Laws on School-Based Responsibilities
Emily Stein
April 2016
This memo is the first in a series of documents prepared as part of the Center on Law, Inequality & Metropolitan Equity's (CLiME) Trauma, Schools, and Poverty project. At this stage in the research, CLiME does not propose that existing special education and antidiscrimination law are the optimal means for providing legal protection to victims of childhood trauma. Rather, we asked whether there currently exists a public duty to provide supportive services to traumatized children. This point of entry led our research to the school system, which holds a central presence in the lives of every child in the United States. CLiME researchers identified three federal statutes that may trigger a duty for schools to identify, evaluate, and provide services or accommodations to trauma victims: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (504), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The following memo serves as a survey of all three Acts and addresses the following questions:
For students manifesting signs of traumatic experience, do schools in the United States have a duty to act to identify, intervene, or accommodate their learning needs?
For what purpose was the current Federal special education and antidiscrimination laws (with applicability in schools) drafted, namely the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)?
Who qualifies as a “disabled” or “handicapped” child under Federal special education law? To what services/accommodations are these individuals expressly entitled? Are victims of childhood trauma likely to qualify as“disabled” or “handicapped” under State law?
What are the main charges of the Federal special education law? Specifically, does the school have an affirmative duty to “find” children with disabilities among the student population and what actions are required once a student is identified?
For what purpose were the current Federal special education and antidiscrimination laws (with applicability in schools) drafted, namely the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (504), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
For what purpose were the current Federal antidiscrimination laws (with applicability in schools) drafted, namely Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
Who qualifies as a “disabled” or “handicapped” child under the Federal antidiscrimination law? To what services/accommodations are these individuals expressly entitled? Are victims of childhood trauma likely to qualify as “disabled” or “handicapped” under these Federal laws?
Within the context of disability protection, what is the promise of NewJersey’s antidiscrimination law and whom does it protect?
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