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Updated February 13, 2013
The following links may be of interest as you search the world wide web for information on inclusive child care and other related topics. Many of the sites listed below are good starting points for additional links. The descriptions come from the sites themselves and are not offered with any official Map to Inclusive Child Care or WestEd endorsement.*
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Find links and resources celebrating the ADA. |
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A Parent’s Guide to the American’s with Disabilities Act and Child Care |
Developed by the Map to Inclusive Child Care Project, this downloadable brochure answers important questions about the ADA and private child care. What is the Americans with Disabilities Act? What exactly does the ADA require child care programs to do? How can I help a child care program meet my child’s needs? The answers to these questions and more are found in this brochure. |
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a national organization that focuses on legal advocacy for the civil rights and human dignity of people with mental illness. |
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The California Department of Developmental Services is the agency through which the State of California provides services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities These disabilities include mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism and related conditions. Services are provided through state-operated developmental centers For information on programs and resources for children ages birth to 3 visit the Birth to 36 Months Home Page |
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California Department of Education Child Development Division (CDD) |
Provides leadership and support to contractors and the child development community, ensuring high quality early education programs are provided to children ages birth to 13 years.
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The mission of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing is to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, and from the perpetration of acts of hate violence. |
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The California Department of Managed Health Care website provides information on laws and activities of the Department of Managed Care. It includes:
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California Department of Public Health, California Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems |
California Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems The California Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems project is one of 59 nationwide that has received a federal grant to build and implement a statewide comprehensive early childhood system that supports the development of children who are healthy and ready to learn. The grant funding is through May 2012. This site provides links to resources for community providers that support developmental screening and referral pathways.
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California Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division |
The State of California regulates child care in an effort to protect the health and safety of participating children’s personal rights. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS), Community Care Licensing Division (CCL), is responsible for licensing child care centers and family child care homes. The state does not regulate certain types of child care, such as in-home care or persons who care for the children from just one family. Licensing regulates the number of children to be cared for as well as the number of adult caregivers. Licensing sets staff and caregiver qualifications that are based on education and experience. The caregiver or center must meet specific health, nutrition, maintenance, and safety requirements. |
The California State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care (ELAC) builds on the work of the California Early Learning Quality Improvement System Advisory Committee (CAEL QIS) in helping define the future policy direction for early learning in California. The ELAC is co-chaired by a representative from the Secretary of Education, Gavin Payne, State Superintendent of Public Instruction designee, and Kris Perry, California Children and Families Commission designee. The co-chairs invite stakeholders in early learning and members of the public to participate in the upcoming meetings of the ELAC. Website provides meeting dates and the latest information and resources. |
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The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare |
The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC) provides child welfare professionals with easy access to vital information about selected child welfare related programs. The primary task of the CEBC is to inform the child welfare community about the research evidence |
Child care centers whether privately or publicly operated must conform to ADA standards in order to meet the needs of special children.This website is under the U.S. Department of Justice. |
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The Child Care Law Center (CCLC) is a national nonprofit legal services organization that uses legal tools to make high quality, affordable child care available to every child, every family and every community. It is the only organization in the country devoted exclusively to the complex legal issues that affect child care. |
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Child Welfare Information Gateway promotes the safety, permanency, and well-being of children, youth, and families by connecting child welfare, adoption, and related professionals as well as the general public to information, resources, and tools covering topics on child welfare, child abuse and neglect, out-of-home care, adoption, and more.
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This handbook is a broad overview of rights and obligations under federal disability laws. Individual state laws may impose more stringent obligations. This handbook is intended to inform rather than to advise, and the information provided is of a general nature. You should consult an attorney for advice about your particular situation. The Handbook is downloadable at this site or available for purchase. |
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Disability Rights California works to bring about fairness and justice for people with disabilities. To reach those goals of fairness and justice, they may: file lawsuits on behalf of individuals or groups: investigate charges of abuse and neglect; build peer/self advocacy groups; forge community partnerships; advocate for change in laws, regulations, and public policy, and provide information to those who may not know about their rights. Additional Resources |
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Founded in 1979 by people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc. (DREDF) is a national law and policy center dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities through legislation, litigation, advocacy, technical assistance, and education and training of attorneys, advocates, persons with disabilities, and parents of children with disabilities.
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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities.
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The IDEA Partnership is dedicated to improving outcomes for students and youth with disabilities by joining state agencies and stakeholders through shared work and learning. |
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LearningPort is a national professional development library of learning modules, tool kits, archived webinars and video resources designed by U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to support the use of ARRA funds. The library was made available though a supplement to NASDSE's IDEA Partnership. Larry Wexler, Director of OSEP's Research to Practice Division expressed the intent of The LearningPort in this way: "We believe that after saving jobs, most school districts would use at least some of their ARRA funds to support the provision of professional development. As such, we wanted to develop a resource for States. Below are two examples of ports to training materials especially useful for preschool: Additional Resources |
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Founded in 1968 MALDF is the nations leading non-profit Latino legal organization. MALDF promotes equality and justice through advocacy, litigation, public policy, and education in the areas of employment, immigrants’ rights, political access, voting rights and language rights. |
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The Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) administers federal grants, contracts, and state programs designed to promote best practices and innovative approaches to child abuse prevention, intervention and treatment. The OCAP serves as a statewide source of information, developing and disseminating educational material regarding prevention/early intervention programs, activities, and research. The federal grants administered by OCAP are the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA); Community Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP); and Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF). The OCAP also oversees grants, contracts, and projects supported by the state funded Child Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Treatment (CAPIT) and the State Children's Trust Fund. Additionally, OCAP monitors the five year federal grant for the Linkages Project which was awarded to the State in September 2006. |
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The Office of Early Learning (OEL) is the principal office charged with supporting the U.S. Department of Education's Early Learning Initiative with the goal of improving the health, social-emotional, and cognitive outcomes for children from birth through third grade, so that all children, particularly those with high needs, are on track for graduating from high school college- and career-ready. OEL is also responsible for the discretionary grant programs in Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) exclusively focused on early learning. The Office works collaboratively with other Department offices to help coordinate and align early learning programs and initiatives. Additionally, OEL works across Federal Agencies to support early learning, including co-administering the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grants with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. |
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The Special EDge Newsletter is a publication of the California Department of Education, Special Education Division—informs and supports California's parents, policymakers, educators, and other service providers on special education topics, focusing on research-based practices, legislation, technical support, and current resources. |
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Across the country, early care and education programs, child welfare departments, and others are using the Strengthening Families approach to reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect. We're doing this by building five Protective Factors that give parents what they need to parent effectively, even under stress:
The Strengthening Families national network includes program staff, state leaders, legislators, policy advocates, and others. Together, we're proving that small but significant changes in everyday work have the power to mobilize extraordinary resources to strengthen families. This is your portal to Strengthening Families and to a world of tools, connections, and strategies for keeping families strong. |
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The Access Board is an independent federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. Created in 1973 to ensure access to federally funded facilities, the Board is now a leading source of information on accessible design. The Board develops and maintains design criteria for the built environment, transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and for electronic and information technology. It also provides technical assistance and training on these requirements and on accessible design and continues to enforce accessibility standards that cover federally funded facilities. |
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US Department of Health and Human Services HRSA Health Resources and Services Administration |
Federally-funded health centers care for you, even if you have no health insurance. You pay what you can afford, based on your income. Health centers provide:
Health centers are in most cities and many rural areas. |
The USDOJ home page on the Americans with Disabilities Act has a wealth of information, including links to federal agencies with ADA responsibilities in addition to ADA publications. A “What’s New” section is available as is “ADA Standards for Accessible Design.” |
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The Unruh Civil Rights Act is California’s primary civil rights law that guarantees full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges or services in all business establishments to all persons regardless of medical condition or disability. The California law incorporates ADA but provides even more expansive protections. Private child care programs, such as family child care homes and centers whether serving infants and toddlers, preschoolers or schoolagers, are considered business establishments under Unruh. People who feel they have been discriminated against may either file private lawsuits through a private attorney or they can file a complaints with the Caliornia Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the agency charged with enforcing the Unruh Civil Rights act, within one year of the violation. |
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Parents, advocates, educators, and attorneys come to Wrightslaw for accurate, up-to-date information about special education law and advocacy for children with disabilities. The website contains articles, cases, newsletters, and resources about dozens of topics in the Advocacy Libraries and Law Libraries.
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* Map to Inclusive Child Care and WestEd do NOT endorse or assume any responsibility for information found on these sites. The following links are provided as a source of information and resources. Please e-mail us information about other sites that will add depth and knowledge to these listings.
[Working Together for Inclusion and Belonging]
751 Rancheros Drive, Suite 2, San Marcos, CA 92069
Phone: (760) 682-0271 | Fax: (760) 471-3862 | Email: [map@wested.org]
Funded by the California Department of Education, Child Development Division