Disabled Children Sue Head Start for Admission : Education: An East Los Angeles program is accused of illegally excluding preschoolers who need diapers.

A 3 1/2-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and nine other developmentally disabled children have been denied admission to a federally funded East Los Angeles preschool program because they wear diapers, attorneys charged in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, contends that the Azteca Head Start Center, which runs 11 federally funded preschools in eastern Los Angeles County, is violating federal law by refusing to admit children with disabilities.

The lead plaintiff is Roman Castro, a 3 1/2-year old Montebello boy with cerebral palsy.

“He needs to have the opportunity to play with his peers and make friends in the neighborhood and become a full member of society,” said Roman’s mother, Valerie Castro. “He needs the same things that other children need, plus a little extra.”

Most of the other children in the suit have Down’s syndrome and all need assistance when using the toilet, according to the suit. They are all 3 or 4.

“All of the children are being denied their right to attend a regular preschool program and their right to learn and play with children who do not have disabilities,” said Catherine Blakemore of Protection and Advocacy, a legal aid group representing the plaintiffs.

One girl, 3-year-old Jessica Ramirez, attended an Azteca Center for two days last month and was kicked out because she wore diapers, according to the suit. Ramirez has Aperts Syndrome, a congenital disability that causes cranial-facial anomalies including a cleft palate.

Justin Williams, a 3 1/2-year-old boy with chronic lung and stomach problems, was denied admission to an Azteca center, even though his mother offered to come to the school to change his diapers.

“The sole reason that the children have been denied admission is that they need assistance in toileting,” said Paul S. Miller of the Western Law Center for the Handicapped, which also is representing the children.

Blakemore said that until this fall Azteca had admitted children who needed to wear diapers because their toilet training had been slower than normal because of their disabilities. But, she said, Azteca changed its policies last month.

Neither Azteca’s director, Roseanne Ghiazza, nor its lawyer responded to phone calls seeking comment Thursday.

Government regulations, cited in the suit, specifically provide that at least 10% of Head Start openings be set aside for children with disabilities who qualify for special education.

Azteca receives between $3,500 and $3,900 in federal funding per child yearly, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which monitors Head Start programs for the federal government. With 700 students, that is more than $2 million annually.

“What is so outrageous,” said Miller, “is that the law is absolutely clear on what Head Start programs’ obligations are. Providing assistance with the toileting needs of children is absolutely reasonable and required.”

Earlier this month, according to court documents, the county Office of Education informed Azteca that it appeared to be violating the Federal Rehabilitation Act by refusing to admit the children.

On Thursday, county Head Start Director Mary Lou Nava Hammaker issued a statement saying that the agency had advised Azteca, one of 27 federally funded Head Start programs in Los Angeles County, to admit the children and to “make the appropriate accommodations to meet their needs.”

Hammaker said the county gave Azteca officials an Oct. 9 deadline to respond, and warned that failure to take appropriate action might result in termination of its Head Start contract.

Roman Castro’s mother said she was informed by an Azteca official on Sept. 10 that her son could not be admitted to Azteca’s Montebello center. After she complained that her son was being discriminated against, Azteca’s director called her, according to a court declaration.

She “told me that Azteca could not take Roman because the site had no hot water and it would be unsanitary to have children who had diapers as there was no way for those who changed the children to wash their hands,” Castro said.

“I told her that I had been to the site and that there was hot water, but she replied that they were not mandated to have hot water and so could not accommodate Roman.”

“Roman’s only problem is cerebral palsy,” she said. “He has some slight gross and fine motor skills delays, but is normal in every other way.”

As part of the suit, Mary Falvey, a special education professor at Cal State Los Angeles, submitted a declaration stating that throughout Los Angeles County “children with developmental disabilities who are not toilet trained have been successfully integrated into Head Start Programs. The staff and parents of these programs often cite the integration of children with developmental disabilities as one of the most positive aspects of their Head Start Program.”

Thursday afternoon, Marilyn Holle, another of the children’s attorneys, said that Azteca’s lawyer had agreed to hold open spaces for the 10 children while the suit is pending. She said she hoped the matter could be resolved next week without the need for a court hearing.

“I couldn’t believe we had to go this far,” she said.