Mandated by  state statute, IEICs are local committees with membership that includes: parents of young children under 12 years of age with disabilities, and representatives from the local school districts, county social services, public health, school and county boards and community service agencies.  They meet at least quarterly (some monthly) to assist in developing and planning comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency services for children with disabilities from birth to age five and their families.   They are funded by state grants based on annual counts of children receiving Early Childhood Special Education services.

History

In 1987, the Minnesota State Legislature followed a new federal requirement mandating the formation of local early intervention committees (MN Statute 125A.30). IEIC stands for Interagency Early Intervention Committee. The focus of each IEIC is to provide agencies the help they need to identify children with special needs and provide services and support to the child and their family. Parents who have children with disabilities, up to age 12, play a major role in the IEIC. This is a very important balance between agencies and families. The Minneapolis IEIC also includes staff from Minneapolis Public Schools; Minnesota Department of Health; Hennepin County Social Services and Health Departments, the City of Minneapolis Health Department, and public and private agency representatives. Parent participation has proven to be a valuable tool for improving the quality of services for all children with special needs.

Vision

We believe that early provision of education and support services to children with identified disabilities and children at risk for developmental delays and their families enable these children to attain the highest potential level of functioning in our society.  In educating and serving this population, we recognize the child cannot be viewed in isolation, but must be seen within the context of the family and community.  Services to children and families need to be interdisciplinary, therefore, collaboration among service agencies and families is essential.  As part of a collaborative plan developed together by families and service agencies, there must be a system of broad outreach to identify, access and provide appropriate services to all children with disabilities or at risk for developmental delays, birth to age 5, and their families.

Purpose           

• To convene and collaborate to support the IEIC vision and philosophy statement and ensure the mandated duties of the IEIC are carried out.
• To assure that the Minneapolis systems find children with special needs, support their families, and bring them through a process to identify their needs and provide services to meet those needs.

Focus areas (from federal legislation):

1. Develop public awareness system
2. Implement interagency child find systems
3. Establish and evaluate referral, assessment and procedural safeguards
4. Assure development of Individual Family Service Plans (IFSP)
5. Implement process, assure services involve cooperating agencies
6. Transitional plans
7. Identify currently existing services and funding
8. Allocate and expend interagency and family support funds.

October, 2003