Obtaining School and Medical Records

[Athena]

Hi

I'm new here so please excuse any errors on my part.

I've been searching around and I'm having a hard time finding what I need and I could really use some help.

A parent is searching for a way to get school and medical records but we were looking for federal and state laws on this in case the school or doctors do not want to comply.

The catch is, the children just started a private school this school year and I don't believe they get federal funding so I don't believe FERPA will apply.

Is there anything else I can use?

The only thing I found so far was

§ 50-13.2.  Who entitled to custody; terms of custody;
       visitation rights of grandparents; taking child out of
       State.
"Absent an order
of the court to the contrary, each parent shall have equal
access to the records of the minor child involving the health,
education, and welfare of the child."

The parents were married but there is no court order for custody or visitation at this time and they are divorced.

The state is NC.

Thanks in advance for your time.

[socrateaser]

You're in a catch-22. Technically, you are correct as regards to the statute, however, without a court order stating your standing re custody, you have nothing that you can present to the school to force them to acknowledge your rights.

You will probably need to get a court order, however, if you have an attorney, the attorney could send a letter advising the school of the law and your intent to get an order forcing them to provide you with the records.

If you send such a letter yourself, I can practically guarantee that it will be ignored. But, you can certainly try.

[Athena]

Thank you so much for answering. You are completely right too.

Went to the school Monday and the Principal ignored everything. He asked the Dad if he wanted to call the Mother and he said sure. Well, it got ugly after that, she fought him on it. Long story. Anyway, the Principal also said that he would just let the kids go before he got involved in it, basically he threatened to kick the kids out if it was made into a legal issue.

So, only thing I can think of is to get a court order on this like you said. Only, the Principal doesn't want to be involved and the mother won't cooperate.

Thanks again! You were still a big help and very correct. :)

Could you tell me if he would have better luck with public schools and doctors? Not sure what to tell the doctors or if they would be difficult as well.

[socrateaser]

In the public school, federal law (FERPA) would control and the school would be forced to cooperate. A healthcare provider would remain free to ignore you.

You really should consider obtaining a court order clarifying these types of issues so that they do not continue to plague your relationship with your child(ren).

[charm910]

We also had problems obtaining school records from NC, Pamlico County. ( We lived in New Jersey) The middle school refused to comply, after numerous attempts, and the CP refusing access. We called the authorities explained in the FERPA laws, in Wash, D.C. and they contacted us and were very helpful after we had provided copies of all the letters we sent and who we contacted.

We did not have any court orders and the simple statement "there are no court orders denying non-custodial access", seemed to be good enough for the government. As far as we know Wash, D.C. threatened the school district for non-compliance and when SS reached high school we never had a problem.

If you have any questions, I would call Wash, D.C. (the information is in the FERPA laws) directly and they can inform you of your rights.

Good luck.

[Athena]

We are about an hour away from Pamlico County. My husband still has family there and our situation occured in Craven County. I have always had a hard time dealing with the people here.

Thank you so much for both of your replies and help. It is greatly appreciated. :)