The Foreign Service Journal, June 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2016 17 Supporting FS Families with Special Needs Children BY MAUREEN M . DANZOT AND MARK R . EVANS B idding is never easy. But for the Foreign Service families of some 1,400 children with special education needs, there are extra challenges. Parents know their children and what their needs are best, so every time bidding season begins, a new round of scouring international school and State Department websites, contacting posts and exchanging emails with the Bureau of Medical Services (MED) and other department offices begins. All of this takes place in an effort to find a post that can meet the educational and therapy needs of a child while also, hopefully, meeting career assignment aspirations. It requires patience, persis- tence and, in many cases, just plain luck. In theory all the elements exist to facili- tate overseas assignments when children with special needs are part of the equation, including necessary financial support. In the United States, children with learning disabilities receive, by law, educational and therapeutic support in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (known as IDEIA). When posted overseas, the State Department provides a larger education allowance (the Special Needs Education Allowance, or SNEA) to families with Maureen Danzot is a financial management officer who joined the Foreign Service in 2001. She has served in Bahrain, Botswana and South Africa, as well as inWashington, D.C. She and her tandem husband, Miguel, have two daughters. Mark Evans is a political officer who joined the Foreign Service in 1995. He is currently posted in Stockholm, having served previously in Beijing, Tokyo, Baghdad, Oslo andWashington, D.C. His wife Kristen is a speech and language pathologist, and they have four sons. SPEAKING OUT children who would receive special needs support, by law, in the United States. The allowance is intended for use in obtaining the same type of assistance and support that would otherwise be required under IDEIA from a U.S. public school district. Various offices in the State Department assist parents of children with special needs to obtain services for their child’s education commensurate with the requirements of IDEIA. In the best-case scenario, both required funding and needed services are avail- able, and an overseas assignment comes together seamlessly, with a willing over- seas school and qualified therapists meet- ing a child’s needs. At best this occurs in ways that check the boxes necessary to get clearance for the assignment and authori- zation from State for financial support to cover associated expenses. More often than not, however, there are delays, rejections by international schools that only pay online lip service to support- ing children with learning differences, and bureaucratic tussles over regulatory interpretation. Flexibility has been para- mount inmaking it all work—on the part of parents, relevant State Department offices and overseas service providers. Yet today, when the rate of diagnosis of various types of special needs in American children is rising dramatically, for some unclear reason State Department autho- rization for funding to support members of the Foreign Service with special needs children is becoming increasingly difficult to access. Since each application for support via SNEA is handled individually by the employee and department authorizers, it is impossible to quantify the trend for successful and unsuccessful applications. However, based on the growing chorus of frustrations being shared within the community of Foreign Service parents of children with special needs, it is clear that new bureaucratic barriers have arisen. At its worst, the result is to seriously limit overseas assignment opportunities for a broad cross-section of the Foreign Service, inmany cases preventing officers or specialists with advantageous skill and knowledge sets from serving in loca- tions that would directly benefit the State Department and promote the foreign policy interests of the United States. Such policies may ultimately drive employees to leave the Service because they are unable to reconcile career inter- ests with the needs of their children. Or they may prevent promising candidates with valuable skills from entering the Foreign Service in the first place, due to concerns about the ability tomeet a child’s individual needs. SNEA 101 Learning differences don’t discrimi- nate; they affect families of all backgrounds equally. To both support Foreign Service