In order to effectively engage and be an advocate during the special education process, parents must be equipped with knowledge of the special education process as well as their rights. This article reports the results of a synthesis of published studies that explored, reported, or estimated parents' knowledge and understanding of the special…

FERPA (1974) privacy laws protect undocumented Latinx learners with disabilities (ULWD) from disclosing their immigration status. The right to maintain anonymity provided by FERPA, however, potentially results in challenges in identifying and supporting the unique needs ULWD in home and school environments. Due, in part, to a lack of information,…

Parents who are knowledgeable of special education are more likely to engage in their child's education. Parents seek information about special education from a number of sources including State Departments of Education (SDEs). However, little is known about the web-based special education resources SDEs provide to parents. We sought to address…

This study explores four instances where parental choice has been employed as a legal "circuit breaker": (a) First Amendment Establishment Clause cases related to public funding, (b) Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection cases regarding race-conscious student assignment, (c) Title IX regulations concerning single-sex education, and (d) a…

From 1982-1997, 35 states adopted legislation, referred to as homeschool rights, that explicitly granted families the right to educate their children at home. Using data from the National Household Education Survey, this article examines the impact that this legislation has had on the decision to homeschool a child versus the alternatives of…

Recent efforts to change the teaching profession and teacher preparation include a number of innovations to use portfolio assessment, value added measures (VAM), accountability metrics and other corporate education reform ideas. These approaches may provoke considerable potential legal consequences. Traditional constitutional and civil rights…

Children's rights have become a significant field of study during the past decades, largely due to the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989. Today, scholarly work on children's rights is almost inconceivable without considering the Convention as the bearer of the children's rights debate. The goal of…

Most arguments for and against open adoption are based on the legal rights of members of the adoption triangle, but empirical evidence to support either position is sparse. Adoptive parents are generally favorable toward openness, but many feel they were pressured to accept openness to obtain a child. (MDM)

Provides an overview of the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which provide for certain parental procedural safeguards to ensure as fair a resolution process as possible when disagreements occur between parents and school districts regarding a child's special education needs. (Author/GCP)

There are options for school counselors confronted with parents inquiring about their child's issues, despite the ongoing uncertainty regarding confidentiality issues with minors. Suggests that counselors can resolve many of their difficulties in this area through an understanding of the issues, careful planning, and diplomacy buttressed with…

Discusses the history and types of adoption. Interaction between custody laws and family therapy occurs primarily in cases involving questions of rights--those of the adoptee, the biological parents, and the adoptive parents. New concerns include pressures to open sealed records, questions of grandparents' rights, and surrogate motherhood. (BH)

The purpose of the study was to review grandparent visitation cases to determine how justices interpreted the best interests of the child standard. Using grounded theory methods, the author conducted a study on 46 grandparent visitation cases. Based on the critical review of these cases, three themes emerged: parental rights, children's rights,…

Among trends in American education, homeschooling stands as one of the most complex and contentious--and least understood. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) did not issue the first comprehensive estimates and analysis of the homeschool population until 2001. As the body of knowledge about homeschooling expands and the movement grows…

Discusses the ethical and legal dilemmas facing counselors who work with minors in the school system. From an ethical perspective, minors should be able to expect confidentiality; however, parents and guardians have certain legal rights that limit the rights of minors. Uses a hypothetical case. Offers interventions for empowering minors in…

The paper provides, in question and answer format, a summary of P.L. 99-372, the Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986. The law authorizes reimbursement of attorneys' fees to parents who prevail in administrative proceedings or court hearings. Legislation was needed because of a 1984 Supreme Court ruling (Smith v. Robinson) that…