Justice Department Finds Utah at Fault for Failing to Provide Effective Transition Services

June 18, 2024, U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (DOJ) released the findings of its investigation into Utah's statewide violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

DOJ determined Utah is violating ADA "by unnecessarily segregating youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) during the day, instead of helping them find work and spend their days in their communities." In addition, it found that gaps in Utah's transition service system put students transitioning out of children's services "at serious risk for unnecessary segregation in these settings", because the students "enter adulthood without the experiences or the services they need to live fully integrated adult lives."

Yet, almost a decade ago, Utah already knew about the need to address transition coordinators; interagency communication and collaboration; records exchange; transition and outcome planning; and transition monitoring. It's input into The National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth's (NDTAC) guidance document Transition Toolkit 3.0: Meeting the Educational Needs of Youth Exposed to the Juvenile Justice System, indicates Utah allegedly had systems in place that could have helped prevent the ADA violations it faces today.

Failure to Coordinate Services

DOJ's findings describe a state with transition services available for students, but without a mechanism in place to ensure the various agencies coordinate their services and connect with students:

"The Utah State Board of Education and the vocational rehabilitation agency, USOR, both administer and oversee the State’s transition service system and coordinate with DSPD. A key component of transition is connecting a student with I/DD to the adult service system to make sure that services are in place when the student leaves school. This may include, for example, having representatives from the relevant State agencies attend school meetings with the student to talk about the student’s employment goals and plans for the future. But the State agencies do not consistently or effectively coordinate their services, and so youth with I/DD may leave school without any ongoing employment or day services in place. Youth may be placed on DSPD’s Community Supports Waiver waitlist, where they often wait many years before receiving services."

In addition, DOJ found that Utah fails to ensure integrated employment experiences are included in students' transition plans. As a result, students transition out without the skills needed for integrated employment, putting them on track as adults to enter the segregated settings for which DOJ also found Utah at fault.

DOJ determined that Utah should ensure students with I/DD enter segregated settings:

"Utah could take steps to ensure that youth with I/DD have the opportunity to receive services in integrated employment and day settings when they finish school. For example, the State could require early, mandatory involvement of DSPD and vocational rehabilitation in every youth’s transition planning. Utah could require schools to coordinate services for students with I/DD with vocational rehabilitation and DSPD. Vocational rehabilitation counselors and DSPD could plan for and connect these students to adult services in integrated settings. Youth with I/DD should have an individualized transition plan that lists clear post-education goals, identifies services needed to achieve those goals, establishes deadlines for starting those services in integrated settings, and creates a plan to maintain integration in adulthood."

Remedy or Lawsuit

If Utah refuses to collaborate with DOJ to determine changes needed to remedy the violations, or if negotiations to determine a remedy fail, DOJ states "the United States may take appropriate action—including initiating a lawsuit—to remedy Utah’s ADA violations."

Additional Reading

2016: The National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth (NDTAC) released the guidance document Transition Toolkit 3.0: Meeting the Educational Needs of Youth Exposed to the Juvenile Justice System,
which was created with input from Murray Meszaros, Utah State Office of Education. The input from Utah focused primarily on transition coordinators; interagency communication and collaboration; records exchange; transition and outcome planning; and transition monitoring.

2018: United States Department of Education (USDOE) Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) issued a letter to Utah State Office of Education (USOE). In the letter, OSEP answered five questions regarding secondary transition, specifically related to consent, which USOD previously submitted.

2020: USDOE published an article on its site about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) partnering with the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation’s (CSAVR) National Employment Team (NET). According to the article, IRS' partnership with NET had "been fruitful in Utah."

2024: DOJ findings against Utah.