When you lose trust in your district - or feel that certain people in the district have done things to harm your child - it can be very difficult to feel comfortable releasing even more information. Sometimes, though, you may have to do it.
We were just going through this psych release question this week. Psych plans to attend the next IEP meeting so needs a release to be there. No problem - if her presence helps I'll sign a limited release. District is offering, sort of anyway, to pay for the psych eval but the person at central office handling our case said that in order to pay for it she would need to be able to speak to the psych. Just like marytheres I was uncomfortable with this - why on earth would I violate my DD's confidentiality when certain people in the district have already proven to be so untrustworthy?
Our consultant worked very hard to convince me to sign the release. He truly believes that this person is committed to helping DD and so far everything psych has said supports our position. Totally, completely supports it. He said that if there were something we were disagreeing about he may be more concerned but this way the psych can do some of the heavy lifting in terms of explaining what DD needs.
I also spoke to the psych about it. She also told me that she believes this person "is on our side - you can trust her." Psych also said that she has enough experience working with schools and is protective of her clients so it should be no problem. If she gets a bad feeling she will immediately tell me and I can pull the release. The psych also felt that the new SW working on our case seems to "get it" and would really like to be able to speak to her. "I think that SW is our salvation. She will get us out of this mess."
So I signed a release naming these 2 people personally - I did not mention the school district. Now I have to hope that it works out and doesn't back fire.
Good Luck Pemberly! I followed your story and I could relate to it a bit! My fingers are corssed for you and your DD!
