PENNSYLVANIA
SPECIAL EDUCATION HEARING OFFICER
DECISION
DUE PROCESS HEARING
Name of Child: Child ODR #5734/05-06
Date of Birth: xx/xx/xx
CLOSED HEARING
Parties to the Hearing:
Mr. and Mrs. Parent
Ms. Mary Beth Mahoney Bucks County MH/MR
600 Louis Drive, Suite 101 Warminster, PA 18974-2846
Representative:
Robert Lear, Esquire Grove Summit Office Park 607A North Easton Road Willow Grove, PA 19090
Charissa Liller, Esquire Baldi & Associates 123 W. Bridge Street New Hope, PA 18938
Date Record Closed: June 9, 2006
Date of Decision: June 24, 2006
Hearing Officer: Marcie Romberger, Esquire
BACKGROUND
Child is a xx year old who received services from the [Redacted] Mental Health/Mental Retardation system prior to his Third birthday. Child is not claiming that the services or the IFSP were inappropriate. Rather, Child is seeking compensatory services for missed hours of therapy as well as reimbursement for services Child’s Parents funded.
[Redacted] MH/MR agrees it owes certain service hours to Child. However, it does not believe that it owes all that is alleged. Nor does it believe that it should have to reimburse Child’s Parents for services they obtained privately because the behavior of Child’s Parents was the cause of the services not being provided through MH/MR. It also alleges that it cannot reimburse Child’s Parents over the amount allowed by the Department of Public Welfare for MH/MR contractors.
ISSUE
Is Child entitled to compensatory services for missed services from October, 2004 to July, 2005?
Are Child’s Parents entitled to reimbursement for the private services they provided to Child?