INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

TO: Head Start Grantees and Delegate Agencies

SUBJECT: Services to Families with limited English proficiency (LEP)

LEGAL AND RELATED REFERENCES: Head Start Act, as amended (42 USC 9801 et seq.) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 USC 2000d et seq. and its implementing regulation at 45 C.F.R. Part 80; and Guidance on the Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination As It Affects Persons With Limited English Proficiency, as published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2000.

INFORMATION: Head Start and other programs in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) are identifying more and more diversity in the background and culture of the families eligible for and in need of Head Start services. Many families, especially those who recently arrived in the United States, lack proficiency in the English language and may therefor need assistance in understanding the programs and how to participate fully in them.

To assist such families, the Office for Civil Rights in DHHS issued new policy guidance to all DHHS programs on August 30, 2000. A copy of this guidance is attached. Also attached is a list of Regional Managers of the Office for Civil Rights who can provide assistance in addition to the assistance of your Regional Office of the Administration for Children and Families and the American Indian and Migrant Program branches.

Please review this new guidance and consider its applicability to your program. As you are aware, Head Start Performance Standards already have provisions that address the issue of limited English proficiency (LEP) children and families. These regulatory provisions are as follows:

Communication with parents must be carried out in the parents' primary or preferred language or through an interpreter, to the extent feasible. (45 CFR 1304.51©(2)).

...staff and consultants must be familiar with the ethnic background and heritage of families in the program and must be able to serve and effectively communicate, to the extent feasible, with children and families with no or limited English proficiency. (45 CFR 1304.52(b)(4)).

When a majority of children speak the same language, at least one classroom staff member or home visitor interacting regularly with the children must speak their language. (45 CFR 1304.52(g)(2)).

In general, grantees and delegate agencies which are in compliance with these provisions will be meeting the requirements of Title VI. However, you may find useful suggestions and guidance in the attached material.

Please contact your Regional Office or the American Indian and Migrant Program branches, or the Regional Manager of the Office for Civil Rights, if you need assistance.

Douglas Klafehn
Acting Associate Commissioner
Head Start Bureau