[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR1304.41]

[Page 132-133]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 1304_PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR THE OPERATION OF HEAD START 
 
               Subpart C_Family and Community Partnerships
 
Sec.  1304.41  Community partnerships.

    (a) Partnerships. (1) Grantee and delegate agencies must take an 
active role in community planning to encourage strong communication, 
cooperation, and the sharing of information among agencies and their 
community partners and to improve the delivery of community services to 
children and families in accordance with the agency's confidentiality 
policies. Documentation must be maintained to reflect the level of 
effort undertaken to establish community partnerships (see 45 CFR 
1304.51 for additional planning requirements).
    (2) Grantee and delegate agencies must take affirmative steps to 
establish ongoing collaborative relationships with community 
organizations to promote the access of children and families to 
community services that are responsive to their needs, and to ensure 
that Early Head Start and Head Start programs respond to community 
needs, including:
    (i) Health care providers, such as clinics, physicians, dentists, 
and other health professionals;
    (ii) Mental health providers;
    (iii) Nutritional service providers;

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    (iv) Individuals and agencies that provide services to children with 
disabilities and their families (see 45 CFR 1308.4 for specific service 
requirements);
    (v) Family preservation and support services;
    (vi) Child protective services and any other agency to which child 
abuse must be reported under State or Tribal law;
    (vii) Local elementary schools and other educational and cultural 
institutions, such as libraries and museums, for both children and 
families;
    (viii) Providers of child care services; and
    (ix) Any other organizations or businesses that may provide support 
and resources to families.
    (3) Grantee and delegate agencies must perform outreach to encourage 
volunteers from the community to participate in Early Head Start and 
Head Start programs.
    (4) To enable the effective participation of children with 
disabilities and their families, grantee and delegate agencies must make 
specific efforts to develop interagency agreements with local education 
agencies (LEAs) and other agencies within the grantee and delegate 
agency's service area (see 45 CFR 1308.4(h) for specific requirements 
concerning interagency agreements).
    (b) Advisory committees. Each grantee directly operating an Early 
Head Start or Head Start program, and each delegate agency, must 
establish and maintain a Health Services Advisory Committee which 
includes Head Start parents, professionals, and other volunteers from 
the community. Grantee and delegate agencies also must establish and 
maintain such other service advisory committees as they deem appropriate 
to address program service issues such as community partnerships and to 
help agencies respond to community needs.
    (c) Transition services. (1) Grantee and delegate agencies must 
establish and maintain procedures to support successful transitions for 
enrolled children and families from previous child care programs into 
Early Head Start or Head Start and from Head Start into elementary 
school, a Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
preschool program, or other child care settings. These procedures must 
include:
    (i) Coordinating with the schools or other agencies to ensure that 
individual Early Head Start or Head Start children's relevant records 
are transferred to the school or next placement in which a child ill 
enroll or from earlier placements to Early Head Start or Head Start;
    (ii) Outreach to encourage communication between Early Head Start or 
Head Start staff and their counterparts in the schools and other child 
care settings including principals, teachers, social workers and health 
staff to facilitate continuity of programming;
    (iii) Initiating meetings involving Head Start teachers and parents 
and kindergarten or elementary school teachers to discuss the 
developmental progress and abilities of individual children; and
    (iv) Initiating joint transition-related training for Early Head 
Start or Head Start staff and school or other child development staff.
    (2) To ensure the most appropriate placement and services following 
participation in Early Head Start, transition planning must be 
undertaken for each child and family at least six months prior to the 
child's third birthday. The process must take into account: The child's 
health status and developmental level, progress made by the child and 
family while in Early Head Start, current and changing family 
circumstances, and the availability of Head Start and other child 
development or child care services in the community. As appropriate, a 
child may remain in Early Head Start, following his or her third 
birthday, for additional months until he or she can transition into Head 
Start or another program.
    (3) See 45 CFR 1304.40(h) for additional requirements related to 
parental participation in their child's transition to and from Early 
Head Start or Head Start.

(The information collection requirements are approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB Control Number 0970-0148 for 
paragraph (a).)

[61 FR 57210, Nov. 5, 1996, as amended at 63 FR 2314, Jan. 15, 1998]

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