B – 051Some grantees are using mobile health (medical or dental) clinics. Do these mobile clinics meet the requirements of the Head Start Program Performance Standards?

45 CFR 1304.20(a)(1)(i) requires that "grantee and delegate agencies must: make a determination as to whether or not each child has an ongoing source of continuous, accessible health care. If a child does not have a source of ongoing health care, grantee and delegate agencies must assist the parents in accessing a source of care." It is up to each grantee to determine whether or not any particular mobile clinic is providing services in a manner that could reasonably be described as providing an ongoing source of continuous, accessible care to Head Start children and families. It should also be noted that there are additional requirements in 1304.20 that mandate programs obtain from a health care professional a determination of a Head Start child’s health status and "for children who are not up-to-date on an age-appropriate schedule of well child care, grantee and delegate agencies must assist parents in making the necessary arrangements to bring the child up-to-date." Even if a ...  more