Children with diabetes

The Health & Disability Legal Clinic is actively involved in advising and representing families with school-age children who have diabetes. Professor Ed Kraus, an experienced disability rights and public benefits attorney, participates in negotiations between school boards and parents in an effort to ensure that appropriate accommodations and services are in place so that a student with diabetes is safe and fully able to participate in and benefit from school. As part of this process, Professor Ed Kraus, Chicago-Kent attorney Julie Burger, and trained Chicago-Kent law students help families develop individual, written plans that will ensure their child’s safety and appropriate educational experience (called “Section 504 plans”), attend meetings with school district personnel about how to develop and implement these plans, provide legal and factual information to school districts and their legal counsel about the rights of children with diabetes, and, when necessary, represent families in litigation against the school district at administrative hearings or in civil court.

The Law Offices of Chicago Kent College of Law also works closely with the American Diabetes Association to help educate parents and other diabetes advocates about the rights of students with diabetes and other legal issues surrounding diabetes care in schools.

Additionally, the Law Offices of Chicago-Kent College of Law research legal and social issues related to diabetes in order to help educate legislators about the ambiguities and limitations of the Illinois Nursing Practice Act and the Illinois School Code when it comes to the management of diabetes for a student in the public schools.

Related Links:

American Diabetes Association, Model 504 Plan.

National Institutes of Health, “Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed, A Guide for School Personnel,” (June 2003).

American Diabetes Association, “Diabetes Care in the School and Day Care Setting,” 32 Diabetes Care S68 (Suppl. Jan. 2009).