Eligibility - The Episcopal Center For Children - Washington, DC - Treatment Facility For The Emotionally Troubled

Eligibility

Referrals to the Episcopal Center for Children may come from agencies, clinics, schools, parents, physicians or any other sources. The intake and eligibility requirements for both the day and the residential programs are the same. Children are accepted regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion or financial status of the family. When a child has been referred through the special education department of the appropriate jurisdictions (District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia) or through any public agency, public funding supports the child's stay at the Episcopal Center.

Children who have not been referred by a public agency but who are enrolled in a public or private school, should first attempt to be identified through testing and documentation as a special needs child by the local school district. Children identified in this manner are then eligible to be referred by the school district.

The Episcopal Center for Children provides services, education and therapy for emotionally troubled children. The term 'emotionally troubled' is used here to include children who have been referred to as emotionally disturbed, emotionally handicapped or emotionally impaired. These children have been defined by the Federal Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (reauthorized as IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The term 'emotionally troubled' means a condition exhibiting 1 or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance.

	An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors
	An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers
	Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances
	A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
	A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems

The local school system or the referring agency would have made a determination of this handicapping condition prior to referring the child to the Episcopal Center. Once that general condition has been determined the more specific categories of eligibility are that:


		the child be between ages 5 to 10½ at the time of admission
		the child falls within the normal range of intelligence as indicated by standardized testing
		the child resides within the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area or that the child resides within a distance that would allow the family or persons responsible, to attend weekly parental therapy meetings
		the child not require a secure or locked facility
		a peer group exists for the child within the Center's population at the time of intake
		the child be able to utilize the relationships available with staff that will facilitate growth and change
		the child must have a DSM-IVR diagnosis

How the admissions process works

The Episcopal Center for Children
5901 Utah Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20015-1616
Voice (202)363-1333 . Fax (202)537-5044

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