HHS Office for Civil Rights Secures Commitment with Puerto Rican Child Welfare Agency to Implement Actions to Ensure Effective Communication for Individuals with Disabilities

Commitment ensures effective communication for deaf and hard of hearing individuals when they receive or participate in critical social and human services and programs

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced actions taken by the Puerto Rico Department of the Family’s Administration for Families and Children (the Department of the Family) to improve communication for, and with, deaf parents prior to removing their minor children from their homes under various Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. The complaints alleged that the Department of the Family had failed to provide sign language interpreters to deaf parents during the agency’s investigation and removal of their minor children. The Department of the Family has committed to implementing numerous corrective actions relating to its provision of auxiliary aids and services. As part of finalizing this agreement, OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer met with Puerto Rico Family Secretary Cieni Rodriguez Troche today in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They discussed the measures that the Department of the Family has taken to strengthen its existing communication policies and procedures and areas for future work and collaboration.

“Children rely on their parents and caregivers for support and parental guidance, and the government must ensure this is true even when investigating family issues. That’s why it is critical to ensure that prior to removal of children from their families, appropriate communication tools must be used to ensure that those parents who are deaf or hard of hearing are fairly given the ability to understand what is happening with their children, communicate with their children, and ensure the safety and wellbeing of their children. Removal of children without providing parents appropriate communication can never happen again.” said OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. “We applaud the commitment to take corrective steps by the Department of the Family to ensure that deaf or hard of hearing parents don’t lose their basic rights to parent their children because of a disability.” 

Through its investigation, OCR drove corrective action on behalf of the deaf parents and family members under three Federal laws: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Section 1557), and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all of which prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities, including those who are deaf or heard hearing. Specifically, these laws and their corresponding regulations require government agencies to use appropriate auxiliary aids and services, such as sign language interpreters, to ensure that they communicate with individuals with disabilities as effectively as they communicate with other individuals.

As a result of these efforts by OCR, the Department of the Family has agreed to take the following steps: 

• Establish a Department of the Family Disability Coordinator with specific roles and responsibilities;
• Identify resources and services that may be used to provide individuals with disabilities involved with the Department of the Family programs with auxiliary aids;
• Streamline and establish a process for requesting auxiliary aids and services within the Department of the Family’s local and regional offices so that caseworkers can request sign language interpreting services directly from the interpreting agency without prior approval from the regional offices;
• Require that the Department of the Family’s staff document the provision of auxiliary aids and services to participants with disabilities;
• Identify and increase awareness of a process for participants and their representatives to make a disability-related complaint, including a complaint of disability discrimination, to the Department of the Family;
• Provide a process by which the Department of the Family will request auxiliary aids for emergency visits/removals and contingency planning;
• Acknowledge the specific needs for some members of the deaf and hard of hearing communities in Puerto Rico for native/regional sign language resources;
• Enter into a contract with a sign language interpreting agency, which includes the availability of video remote interpreting, native/regional sign language interpreters, and interpreting services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week;
• Develop a training program that provides an overview of deaf culture and how to request and access sign language interpreter resources, including video remote interpreting; and
• Provide training to all Department of the Family staff, including its social workers.
• Develop a Nondiscrimination Notice to inform individuals of the Department of the Family’s Disability Effective Communication Policy;
• Create a process for continually reviewing what reasonable modifications and auxiliary aids and services are needed by program participants; and
• Create a process for ensuring that service providers know when auxiliary aids or services may be necessary.

Today’s action is the latest by OCR to strengthen policies and advance law enforcement work to ensure nondiscrimination against people with disabilities in health care. OCR has recently taken several other actions to strengthen access to health and human services for people with disabilities: On April 26, 2024, OCR finalized the Section 1557 rule, which strengthens protections against discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability. On May 1, 2024, OCR finalized the Section 504 rule, substantively updating the rules for the first time in nearly 50 years. Section 504 clarifies and strengthens civil rights protections for people with disabilities, addresses discrimination in medical treatment, adds enforceable standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment, and ensures accessible web content and mobile apps.

To inform the public of their rights and encourage compliance with civil rights laws by the health care system, OCR has several Fact Sheets, FAQs and other resources.

Specific resources for deaf and hard of hearing services can be found here.

A copy of the Closure Letter is available at: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocr-closure-letter-puerto-rico-dept-family.pdf

If you believe that you or someone else has been discriminated against for being deaf or hard of hearing, on account of another disability, or on account of race, color, national origin, age, sex, or religion, please file a complaint with the HHS Office for Civil Rights at https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/filing-a-complaint/index.html.