School District services for disabled children

School districts have educational services available for disabled children - whether the child is autistic or has another disability. The districts seek out the children who qualify for these services. If you have a disabled child, it is a good idea to contact the director for special education for the school district or the principal at your child's school to ask for an "IEP meeting." That request should be made in writing. The school district is then required to hold a meeting within thirty days from your request for a meeting.

At the first IEP meeting for a child, the school district has to assess your child to see where he or she needs educational help. Then, the district will then report back to you with it's offer of services for the next year.

The IEP meeting will probably be recorded. You may even hear what sounds like an offer in the meeting. The verbal "offer" is not the offer of services being given to your child. Only a written offer binds the school district to the services offered.

The IEP has to include your child's present level of performance with regard to his or her educational challenges. This will be determined based on testing assessments as well as observations from your child's teachers, other school staff - and you as your child's parent. This will set up a starting point to develop your child's goals for the upcoming year.

The IEP must, then, set out how the goals are going to be achieved and what services will be provided and how frequently these services will be provided. Some of the services that can be a part of a child's IEP are:

speech and language pathology services
occupational therapy services
deaf and hard of hearing services
mobility services
emotional counseling services
reading and language services
audiological services
visual services
adapted physical education
individualized behavior interventions services and
other services as needed.

Paternity action can define a parenting relationship

Parents who have a child when they are not married to each other can use a paternity action to legally define each parent's rights and responsibilities with regard to their child.

A paternity action will establish both child support and parenting time. Parenting time is the time each parent gets to spend with their child. These are both important considerations if you are breaking up with the other parent of your child.

Missouri encourages parents to share joint legal and joint physical custody of their children. Joint physical custody does not mean that the parents share equal amounts of time. It does mean that both parents have ongoing, significant time with the child.

Joint legal custody means that legally mom is still mom and dad is still dad. Both parents share decisions about their child's schooling, medical care, religious upbringing and activities.

If you are a dad who has been served with child support papers from the state, it is important for you to understand that the state will only establish child support. There will be no order defining your parenting time with your child. You need to bring a paternity action to set up your parenting time with your child.

Child Support for a disabled child doesn't have to end in Missouri

If you have a seriously disabled child and are divorced or in the process of getting divorced, continuing support for your child as they become an adult can be a concern.

The rules having to do with ending child support don't necessarily apply where the child is seriously disabled. A serious disability is a disability that will keep the child from ever supporting himself. For some children this means that the child will live in a group home or other sheltered facility after the death of her parents. For other children, the disability can mean that, although the child doesn't have to live in an institution, the child will never be able to become self-support, whether the child's disability is physical, emotional, or learning-related.

Fortunately, it is possible in Missouri to have child support continue past the normal age of emancipation. If a court finds the disability is serious the court can order the child support to continue into the child's adulthood.

If you have a seriously disabled child who will be needing support from his parents throughout his life, you should discuss this issue with your attorney.