[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR1308.5]

[Page 162-163]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 1308_HEAD START PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS ON SERVICES FOR CHILDREN 
 
             Subpart C_Social Services Performance Standards
 
Sec.  1308.5  Recruitment and enrollment of children with disabilities.


    (a) The grantee or delegate agency outreach and recruitment 
activities must incorporate specific actions to actively locate and 
recruit children with disabilities.
    (b) A grantee must insure that staff engaged in recruitment and 
enrollment of children are knowledgable about the provisions of 45 CFR 
part 84, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Programs and 
Activities Receiving or Benefiting from Federal Financial Assistance, 
and of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (42 U.S.C. 12101).
    (c) A grantee must not deny placement on the basis of a disability 
or its severity to any child when:

[[Page 163]]

    (1) The parents wish to enroll the child,
    (2) The child meets the Head Start age and income eligibility 
criteria,
    (3) Head Start is an appropriate placement according to the child's 
IEP, and
    (4) The program has space to enroll more children, even though the 
program has made ten percent of its enrollment opportunities available 
to children with disabilities. In that case children who have a 
disability and non-disabled children would compete for the available 
enrollment opportunities.
    (d) The grantee must access resources and plan for placement 
options, such as dual placement, use of resource staff and training so 
that a child with a disability for whom Head Start is an appropriate 
placement according to the IEP is not denied enrollment because of:
    (1) Staff attitudes and/or apprehensions;
    (2) Inaccessibility of facilities;
    (3) Need to access additional resources to serve a specific child;
    (4) Unfamiliarity with a disabling condition or special equipment, 
such as a prosthesis; and
    (5) Need for personalized special services such as feeding, 
suctioning, and assistance with toileting, including catheterization, 
diapering, and toilet training.
    (e) The same policies governing Head Start program eligibility for 
other children, such as priority for those most in need of the services, 
apply to children with disabilities. Grantees also must take the 
following factors into account when planning enrollment procedures:
    (1) The number of children with disabilities in the Head Start 
service area including types of disabilities and their severity;
    (2) The services and resources provided by other agencies; and
    (3) State laws regarding immunization of preschool children. 
Grantees must observe applicable State laws which usually require that 
children entering State preschool programs complete immunizations prior 
to or within thirty days after entering to reduce the spread of 
communicable diseases.
    (f) The recruitment effort of a Head Start grantee must include 
recruiting children who have severe disabilities, including children who 
have been previously identified as having disabilities.