The Foreign Service Journal, June 2008

90 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 8 S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT each other. There are several offices in the Department of State staffed by profes- sionals with a mandate to assist fami- lies with special-needs children, and they all have each other on speed dial. Families who know or suspect that their child has special needs must first contact the Employee Consultation Service, which is part of the Medical Division. Families abroad should con- tact their Regional Medical Officer. A highly experienced social worker will be assigned to continuing coordination of the case including assessment, edu- cational planning and clearances. If the child has been in special edu- cation programs in the U.S. and has a current Individual Education Plan (describing the specific program to be offered), the next move is identifying posts where the specified accommoda- tions are available. If the child needs to be evaluated, ECS will organize the assessment to produce the IEP for the child here or abroad. ECS then works with the Office of Allowances to autho- rize the funding of the accommoda- tions specified in the IEP. Keep in mind that the governing regulation for the special-needs edu- cation allowance states clearly that only those educational services identi- fied as actually “required” for the child in the IEP or equivalent document are reimbursable. If the employee parent is due to be assigned overseas, the search for appropriate educational and medical services should begin early. The employee should work with his or her Career Development Officer to gen- erate a short list of assignment possi- bilities. Parents can then follow up with ECS and the Office of Overseas Schools to determine which posts have schools that can provide the specified accommodations. The Overseas Briefing Center at the Foreign Service Institute and the FS Special Needs Listserv are also good sources of information. If board- ing school is a possibility, the Edu- cation and Youth Officer in the Family Liaison Office is an excellent referral resource. All of these offices have user-friendly Web sites and can also be contacted by phone, e-mail or in per- son. Once the research is complete, the final step for the parents is to contact Within the Department of State, a number of offices and a myriad of professionals stand ready to assist.