Nowadays there are more and more times when there are disputes with the school.  Some of the time it does rise to the level of neglect or abuse on the parents or the caregivers but there also seems to be a variety of circumstances where if the parents and the school disagree regarding possible Individual Education Plan (“IEP”); a 504 Plan; homeschooling or different avenues that most people would not consider neglect or abuse.  Sometimes you see the school that has a pattern of filing of a 51A against the parents with DCF and having DCF be the hammer or the leverage against the parents.  That is something that you do not see all the time, but I have seen more and more times where there are disputes with the school or the school finds the parents to be difficult to work with; whether that is true or not and refers it out to DCF.

It is important to have a strong advocate to be able explain that there is not actual neglect or abuse and to try and get the 51A unsupported or potentially screened-out and being able to get DCF out life as soon as possible.