COPAA’s mission is to protect and enforce the legal and civil rights of students with disabilities and their families.  Our primary goal is to secure high quality educational services and to promote excellence in advocacy.

COPAA works to:

• Enable parents to work more effectively with school personnel to plan and obtain effective educational programs for their children with disabilities;
  
  
• Encourage more attorneys and advocates to undertake representation of parents of children with disabilities in their efforts to plan and obtain effective educational programs;
  
  
• Provide advocate, attorney, parent and other professional COPAA members with the practical resources and information they need to obtain effective educational programs for students with disabilities;
  
  
• Enable members to network and share information and legal resources;
  
  
• Provide training for special education advocates on all aspects of special education advocacy and informal conflict resolution;
  
  
• Provide training for attorneys on legal practice: including due process, litigation, and informal conflict resolution;
  
  
• Enable parents to locate advocates, attorneys, and related professionals through COPAA's website directory;
  
  
• File amicus curiae briefs in cases of national significance.

We sat down with COPAA's Legal Director, Attorney Selene Almazan to discuss the scope COPAA's national footprint in advocating for the rights of children with disabilities.

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