Congress recognized the importance of active parents' involvement in planning their children's educational programs, monitoring progress, and challenging inappropriate decisions. This child advocate role is usually filled by parents. However, the laws give an alternative if the parents of a child with a disability are unknown or completely unavailable or if the child is a ward of the state. Surrogate parents fill the parental role in these situations. Most often a surrogate is either a foster parent or a volunteer from the local community.

Surrogate parents play an important role in a child's education. The surrogate parent is an advocate for the student. The more surrogate parents know and the more comfortable they are with the special education process and procedures, the more effective they will be in the role of surrogate parent.

This training module is a guide for training surrogate parents. It includes information on the laws and procedures for representing a child in the special education process.

*Note: All references to IEP (Individualized Education Program) include IIIP (Individual Interagency Intervention Plan) and IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan).