Our team of education advocates works closely with families to access educational supports for their children. We provide training, information and assistance to parents of children with disabilities, ages 0 to 26, and to the professionals who work with them. Through our Parent Center, we present workshops, in English and Spanish, in every community in New York City that prepare parents to effectively advocate for their children's education-related rights in the public school system. The Legal Aid Society (LAS) offers early intervention, special education, general education, and school suspension advocacy for children in New York City.
McDonald's Education Defense Project (EAP) and Education Bill (ELP) provide early intervention, general education, special education, and suspended hearing advocacy for New York City kids. ELP primarily helps parents of children with disabilities who do not receive the supports and services to which they are entitled under the law. The EAP does similar work, but it focuses more specifically on young people who participate in child welfare and juvenile delinquency cases in New York City Family Court. Founded in 1997 in Brooklyn as a direct legal services agency, Collaborative Legal Care (CLC) provides enthusiastic and effective representation to children in cases of custody, visitation, domestic violence, guardianship, paternity, and cases related to child protection.
Since its inception, CLC has expanded to represent the children of the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. CLC is the primary organization in New York City assigned to represent children in custody and visitation matters, and the only nonprofit law firm focused on juvenile attorney services in this area of the law. Family Legal Care (FLC) provides unrepresented parents and caregivers with the legal support and guidance they need to navigate the New York State Family Court. Education advocates at Legal Services NYC have a proven track record of developing relationships with community organizations and taking advantage of Know Your Rights workshops with advocates, parents and students in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn to provide specific and comprehensive education and counseling.
This program has offered a legal lifesaver for Family Court litigants across New York State who are homebound or disabled, live in rural areas, or have transportation or child care issues. With the support of a five-year grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE), The AFC operates the Collaborative Training & Information Center for Parent Training & Information for New York Region 1.All children with disabilities must be in an educational environment that allows them to make significant progress based on their particular circumstances.
Based on data, findings, and interviews with professionals, special education advocates, and parents of students with disabilities, the document makes recommendations for addressing barriers to Career & Technical Education (CTE). New York City Department of Education saw a lawsuit filed by parents of children with disabilities alleging that they had received favorable orders and agreements at fair hearings that were not being enforced in time. The mission of the New York State Office of Mental Health is to promote the mental health of all New Yorkers, with a particular focus on providing hope and recovery to adults with serious mental illness and to children with serious emotional disorders. When it became clear that remote learning would exist for a long time, LAS lobbied DOE to consistently provide mandatory special education services to students with disabilities, plan for the transportation of mixed education students as schools gradually reopened, and give priority to students in homeless shelters and foster homes for free day care.
The New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) is responsible for coordinating services for New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, providing services directly and through a network of approximately 500 nonprofit service-providing agencies. We advise and represent public and charter school students who require better special education services, who are facing suspension or exclusion from school or who are seeking medical transportation or accommodations. New York City offers educational opportunities for children from pre-kindergarten through age 4 through high school.Parents looking for legal services for their children with special needs in Bronx New York can access a variety of resources available through organizations such as The Legal Aid Society (LAS), McDonald's Education Defense Project (EAP), Education Bill (ELP), Collaborative Legal Care (CLC), Family Legal Care (FLC) as well as The AFC Parent Center. These organizations provide training sessions on how to effectively advocate for their child's rights as well as legal representation when needed. The LAS offers early intervention services as well as general education advocacy while EAP focuses more specifically on young people involved in child welfare cases.
CLC is dedicated to representing children in custody or visitation matters while FLC provides unrepresented parents with legal support when navigating family court proceedings. The AFC Parent Center provides workshops that prepare parents on how to advocate for their child's rights while The New York State Office of Mental Health focuses on providing hope and recovery to adults with serious mental illness as well as children with serious emotional disorders. The U. S Department of Education has provided a five-year grant that allows The AFC Parent Center to operate the Collaborative Training & Information Center which provides information on how best to address barriers related to Career & Technical Education (CTE).Finally when remote learning became necessary due to COVID-19 LAS lobbied DOE to ensure mandatory special education services were provided as well as transportation options when schools began reopening.
