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Letter 12: Child Find Request for a Private-School or Homeschooled Child

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When to Use It

Send this letter when your child attends a private school you chose, or is homeschooled, and you suspect a disability that affects learning. The evaluation is free. Child find covers every child in the state, not just public-school students (34 C.F.R. § 300.111). For a child you placed in a private school, the duty to locate and evaluate belongs to the district where the private school sits - not the district where you live (34 C.F.R. § 300.131). Whether a homeschooled child counts as privately placed depends on your state; see the State Note below and Tool 6.

Be clear-eyed about the limit. An eligible child who stays in private school has no individual right to services there; the district offers, at most, equitable services under a services plan (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.132, 300.137). The full offer of a free appropriate public education comes through enrollment in public school. The free evaluation, though, is yours to request either way. Tool 5 explains the duty; Tool 6 explains the side door.

Send it to: the public agency identified by your state’s rules. For a parentally placed private-school student, begin with the district where the school is located. For a homeschooled student, check whether state law treats the home school as a private school and which agency receives the referral. If responsibility is unclear, copy the other potentially responsible district and ask both to identify the proper recipient in writing. Email with a delivery or read receipt; keep a copy.