2023 New York Laws › PBH - Public Health › Article 25 - Maternal and Child Health › Title 2-A - Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities and Their Families › 2542 - Comprehensive Child Find System and Public Awareness Program.

§  2542. Comprehensive child find system and public awareness program.
1. The commissioner shall develop a comprehensive child find system that
ensures that eligible children in the  state  are  identified,  located,
referred  to the early intervention official and evaluated.  Such system
shall:
(a) require  early  intervention  officials  to  identify  and  locate
eligible children within their municipality;
(b) be coordinated with efforts to identify, locate and track children
conducted  by  other  agencies  responsible  for services to infants and
toddlers and their families, including the efforts in (i) part B of  the
federal  individuals  with  disabilities  education act, including early
childhood direction centers, (ii) the maternal and child health  program
under  title  V of the federal social security act, including the infant
health assessment program, (iii) medicaid's  early  periodic  screening,
diagnosis  and  treatment  program under title XIX of the federal social
security act, and (iv) the federal supplemental security income program;
and
(c) provide for the identification, tracking and screening of children
at risk of developmental delay, using resources  available  through  the
programs, identified in paragraph (b) of this subdivision and such other
available resources as the commissioner shall commit to this purpose.
2.  The  commissioner  shall develop, implement, and maintain a public
awareness program to inform the  general  public  and  the  professional
community  of the availability of the early intervention program and the
benefits of services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their
families. The program shall include materials which describe the  normal
developmental   achievements   of  young  children,  identification  and
procedures for referral of children with disabilities, and how  to  gain
access to early intervention services.
3.  The  following  persons  and  entities, within two working days of
identifying an infant or toddler suspected of having a disability or  at
risk  of  having a disability, shall refer such infant or toddler to the
early intervention official or the health officer of the  public  health
district  in  which  the infant or toddler resides, as designated by the
municipality, but in no event over the objection of the parent  made  in
accordance with procedures established by the department for use by such
primary  referral  sources,  unless the child has already been referred:
hospitals, child health care providers, day care programs, local  school
districts,  public  health facilities, early childhood direction centers
and such other social service and health care agencies and providers  as
the  commissioner  shall  specify in regulation; provided, however, that
the department shall  establish  procedures,  including  regulations  if
required,  to ensure that primary referral sources adequately inform the
parent or guardian  about  the  early  intervention  program,  including
through  brochures  and  written  materials  created  or approved by the
department.
4. The commissioner shall provide  each  early  intervention  official
with  a  list of all approved evaluators and service coordinators in the
municipality or geographic area proximate to such municipality or,  with
respect  to the city of New York, subdivisions of the city as prescribed
by the commissioner.
Such list of approved evaluators shall be updated  at  least  annually
and  shall  describe  the  specific areas of expertise of each qualified
evaluator, if known.