Delaware Birth to Three to Preschool: Family Guide

Editorial approval scope: The team checked current source fidelity, scope boundaries, dates, arithmetic, reader usefulness, practical workflow, and general-information limitations.

Keep the family service coordinator and district roles separate

Delaware's current Birth to Three page identifies the state program and contact route. The Birth to Three policy manual assigns IFSP and conference coordination to the family service coordinator and Part B decisions to the education system. Record the coordinator, resident district, evaluator, and each community-program contact. A district representative at the conference does not itself establish eligibility or an IEP.

Build one age-three control calendar

Delaware's manual places the family-approved transition conference no later than 90 days, and by agreement as early as nine months, before the third birthday. Add the IFSP plan, meeting notice, family approval, district invitation, record-sharing choices, evaluation consent, assessments, eligibility, IEP, community applications, final Birth to Three date, and first new service to one calendar. Ask for the current late-referral procedure when ordinary timing is unavailable. The federal Part C transition rule provides the shared baseline for notification, late referral, conferences, and IFSP transition steps. Use Delaware's current effective source and the family's own notices for operational dates, responsible offices, and available state choices.

Separate decisions before comparing routes

The Delaware Birth to Three transition can touch Delaware Birth to Three Early Intervention Program, the education agency, Head Start, child care, community preschool, health-plan services, and private clinicians. The Part C team coordinates its exit work. The education team decides school eligibility and services. Each early learning program decides enrollment. Clinicians recommend within scope, and payers decide coverage. Give every decision a separate row, source, owner, due date, and status.

Test the child's actual week

For a Delaware receiving route, map arrival, instruction, play, meals, toileting, rest, transportation, therapy, and departure. Put that schedule beside caregiver work, siblings, health appointments, travel, and recovery time. Visit the actual setting when possible. Record the communication, sensory, mobility, feeding, health, and staffing supports that are confirmed. A program label or eligibility category does not show whether the child's day will be accessible.

Build a purposeful record handoff

Gather the current IFSP, relevant evaluations, progress information, family priorities, and the health or safety information the next Delaware setting needs. Describe speech, sign, gesture, movement, AAC, backup communication, partner response, and wait time. Add equipment, sensory, mobility, feeding, toileting, medication, allergy, and transportation details as applicable. Index family authorization, the exact records sent, recipient, delivery date, and confirmation of receipt.

Preserve access during every transition activity

During Delaware evaluations, conferences, and visits, use the child's usual communication tools, interpreters, visual supports, mobility access, sensory accommodations, and health protections. Give the child a reliable way to accept, decline, pause, request help, and show discomfort. Preserve food, water, bathroom access, movement, prescribed care, and emergency help. Record an access failure as a system condition so it is not misread as the child's performance.

Audit the third-birthday handoff across two indicators

Delaware's early transition data guide separates the Part C conference measures from the Part B evaluation, eligibility, and IEP measure. Use the same separation in the family tracker. A timely conference can coexist with an unfinished school evaluation. Ask the district for the evaluation plan and decision date, then ask Birth to Three which remaining Part C action it still owns.

A fictional Delaware handoff

Caleb's family follows 16 transition events. Fourteen have dated evidence, so completion is 14 of 16, or 87.5%. The district eligibility report and preschool medication-training date remain open. The family does not count the completed conference twice or use it as evidence for either unresolved item.

Questions for the next transition meeting

Who is our Delaware family service coordinator? Which district received the conference invitation? What approval and meeting notices were documented? Which records may be shared? When will the district evaluate, decide eligibility, and develop any IEP? Which community routes have separate applications? How will AAC, medication, feeding, toileting, mobility, and transportation supports be ready? Which Part C or Part B route addresses a delay?

A final control checklist

Before the next Delaware transition event, confirm the birthday, sending contact, receiving contacts, IFSP steps, notification, family choices, consent, records, conference, evaluation, eligibility or enrollment, plan document, setting, weekly schedule, communication access, health and safety supports, transportation, last Part C date, first receiving-service date, unresolved tasks, escalation route, and post-start review. Assign every open task one accountable owner and one next date. Show counts beside percentages.

Connect Delaware's Part C and Part B evidence without combining it

Build proof around the state-specific handoff and the actual receiving site. Delaware Birth to Three, Policies and Procedures Manual supplies the primary Delaware framework for this guide. Record the IFSP transition steps, family approval, conference notice, district invitation, record-sharing choice, referral, evaluation consent, assessments, eligibility report, IEP, medication training, community applications, final Birth to Three date, and first receiving service separately. Preserve the Part C conference evidence and the Part B evaluation, eligibility, and IEP evidence under their respective owners. Close a tracker row only with the dated notice, consent, receipt, report, eligibility record, plan, enrollment decision, or start evidence that matches its purpose. A scheduled meeting remains in progress until the family receives its result.

Index every cross-system record by title, author, date, purpose, family authorization, sender, recipient, delivery date, receipt confirmation, correction, and next action. Keep earlier versions when they explain a decision and mark the copy the receiving team currently uses. Name one contact for the Birth to Three family service coordinator and another for the resident school district. Ask the receiving contact to identify unreadable pages, stale health information, missing attachments, and new evaluation questions before the next decision meeting.

Test the Delaware district day beyond the conference record

Walk through the district preschool, arrival, classroom routines, medication process, AAC, feeding and toileting supports, mobility, transportation, child care, outpatient therapy, family work, and the handoff between every location. Use the actual location and approximate travel time planned for the first day whenever a visit is available. Confirm who meets the child, who can use the communication system, where equipment and health information go, and how the family reaches the responsible person during the day. A program becomes workable when those connections have names, dates, and evidence.

Prepare a current health page, trained medication backup, usable communication plan, transportation contact, and care schedule while the district eligibility report or start date remains pending. Record travel duration, waiting, an inaccessible step, missing material, communication breakdown, fatigue, or an unanswered question found during rehearsal. Assign every correction to an office or person able to act, then retest the highest-impact condition. The backup should preserve safe care, reliable communication, necessary equipment, and one person who can coordinate the next decision.

Recover a late or conflicting Delaware action

When a target date passes, send a short written recap naming the action, source for the expected date, family steps already completed, current impact, requested response, and next follow-up. The family service coordinator owns Birth to Three transition planning, meeting approval, conference coordination, and the Part C record. The district owns evaluation consent, assessment, eligibility, IEP, and school implementation. A timely conference should remain complete even when a later district result is delayed, and the unfinished district action should retain its own due date. Ask the responsible system for its current procedural-safeguard, complaint, mediation, or review information when the concern remains unresolved. Retain conflicting answers until the responsible offices reconcile them.

Contingency planning should identify real care and support without predicting a legal outcome. Ask the Birth to Three family service coordinator, resident school district, community program, clinician, and payer to state their own end or start dates and interim responsibilities. Mark the first affected date for any gap in care, communication, transportation, equipment, or family coverage. That gives the next meeting a concrete problem while preserving each system's authority.

Review the first ten and thirty days in Delaware

Caleb's family begins the review with 14 of 16 transition events have dated evidence; the district eligibility report and preschool medication-training date remain active until each has a decision and implementation proof. During the first ten days, check whether the written district result matched the implemented placement, medication support reached the responsible staff, and Caleb's communication stayed available during transport and classroom routines. Describe each observation with the routine, support, child's response, and practical impact. This record helps the receiving team preserve effective supports and investigate repeated access problems.

At the Delaware day-thirty review, compare the actual week with the accepted IFSP, IEP, enrollment plan, authorization, or family schedule. Check attendance, delivered services, location, transportation, communication access, equipment, health and safety procedures, provider coordination, family workload, and the child's participation or recovery after the day. Send a gap between the written plan and delivered support to the office that can correct it and assign a response date. Record strengths beside gaps because a successful partner or routine tells the team what to preserve.

Limits and immediate next steps for Delaware families

This draft organizes transition work. It cannot determine an individual child's eligibility, placement, service, coverage, right, or deadline. Current law, the child's record, written notices, family consent, and the responsible agency, program, or payer control those decisions. State options, manuals, portals, contacts, and capacity can change. Verify the operative source and assigned owner with the Birth to Three family service coordinator and resident school district; seek qualified educational, legal, clinical, or benefits advice when a disputed or high-impact question requires it.

Next, place the third birthday and last current-service date on the family calendar. List every school, community, developmental-disability, and clinical route under consideration, then name its decision owner. Choose the closest unresolved consent, record, evaluation, meeting, site visit, transportation, or start action and request its date in writing. Keep the tracker open until the family has a confirmed receiving plan, a usable first-day test, and a post-start review date.