The Special Education Awareness Juvenile Justice Project is a program operated by Carolina Legal Assistance through a two-year grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission. This project focuses on children with special needs involved in the juvenile justice system. The project began in October of 2002 and originally covered three pilot sites: Wake, Wilson and Gaston counties.
The purpose of this project is twofold. First, the project is to train parents, juvenile court judges, attorneys, court counselors and other juvenile justice stakeholders concerning the entitlements of special education for eligible juveniles under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This federal law requires that students with special education needs be given a free and appropriate public education and puts into place certain safeguards to ensure that juveniles with disabilities receive the education to which they are entitled. Carolina Legal Assistance has given several training workshops throughout the state and continues to train interested stakeholders. The goal of this training is to promote special education advocacy within the juvenile justice system.
The project’s second purpose is to provide technical assistance and targeted client representation in the pilot sites. We receive numerous requests for assistance from juvenile court counselors and parents of children with special education needs. A typical client we would represent under this grant would be a young person, usually charged with some type of criminal offense in juvenile court, who has also been long-term suspended from school and has unmet special education needs. Legal assistance provided under this Project is intended to keep juveniles in school and to obtain needed special education services.
Carolina Legal Assistance has been very successful in helping to secure services for children with special needs. The Special Education Awareness Juvenile Justice Project also allows us to pursue and promote special education advocacy and interagency collaboration on behalf of juveniles as strategies for reducing school dropout and delinquency.
For further information or assistance, please call (877) 235-4210 (toll free), or (919) 856-2195.