When Justice Swann was still an infant, his mother had a feeling she couldn’t shake.
Long before an autism diagnosis, long before therapy appointments and individualized education plans, Laci Swann sensed her son was developing differently.
Years later, that instinct proved correct. But getting answers was only the beginning.
It’s not like once you get the diagnosis, everything falls into place, Swann said. Everything starts unfolding. It can be very overwhelming.
For many Florida families, that journey means learning how to navigate evaluations, therapies, school accommodations and special education services—often while trying to understand a maze of state and federal systems they never knew existed.
Now, some parents and advocates worry one piece of that system is about to become even harder to navigate.
The Trump administration announced plans this week to move federal special education oversight from the U.S. Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services, part of a broader effort to reduce the role of the Education Department and eventually eliminate it altogether.
The change affects programs serving more than 442,000 Florida students with disabilities and nearly $786 million in annual federal IDEA funding flowing into the state.
For many families, however, the concern isn’t about funding formulas or federal bureaucracy.
It’s about knowing where to turn when something goes wrong.
A system most families don’t think about until they need it
The office being transferred oversees programs created under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, better known as IDEA.
The law guarantees students with disabilities access to a free appropriate public education and establishes many of the protections parents rely on when advocating for their children.
Richard La Belle, CEO of the Family Network on Disabilities, said the federal office plays a much larger role than many people realize.
“There are a thousand moving parts to IDEA,” La Belle said.
The federal government collects and reviews data from states, monitors compliance, funds research and helps ensure schools are meeting requirements established under federal law.
Those responsibilities are largely invisible to most families—until problems arise.
La Belle said one of the biggest unanswered questions surrounding the transfer is what happens when parents need help navigating the system.
Who’s going to take those calls? Who do I even contact? Who do I even call? I don’t know, La Belle said. It hasn’t been spelled out.
That uncertainty has been a recurring concern among disability advocates since discussions about dismantling the Department of Education first began.
The administration has said services will continue and protections will remain in place. But many operational details remain unclear.
What happens when transitions create delays?
Supporters of the move argue it is a government reorganization intended to better align services within agencies already working with people with disabilities.
Advocates say they are less concerned about organizational charts than about what happens during the transition itself.
La Belle pointed to challenges encountered during other interagency transfers involving Education Department functions.
“Those kinds of speed bumps that have been encountered elsewhere, when it comes to the education of kids with disabilities, those often translate into lost time for their education that can’t be made up,” he said.
For students receiving special education services, even short disruptions can carry consequences.
Parents often spend months securing evaluations, building support plans and coordinating services between schools and providers.
The Swann’s know how difficult that process can be.
Before Justice received a diagnosis, the family encountered lengthy waiting lists and eventually traveled to Jacksonville because local options were not available quickly enough.
They were able to take time off work and pay for additional expenses. Laci Swann acknowledges many families cannot.
“We were fortunate to be able to take time off, go elsewhere, pay out of pocket,” she said. “And that’s not something that has gone over our heads.”
Those experiences eventually inspired the couple to create the Little Boy Blue Foundation, a nonprofit that supports neurodivergent individuals and their families.
Through that work, they regularly hear from families struggling to access services, understand available resources or navigate special education systems.
That perspective shapes how they view the federal changes.
Families worry uncertainty falls hardest on vulnerable communities
Laci Swann said affluent families often have options when systems become difficult to navigate.
Families with fewer resources may not.
“We don’t know what that’s going to look like in terms of who we contact, how long it’s going to take,” she said. “It affects people that lack time, lack resources.”
She worries the transition could create additional hurdles for families already facing barriers to care.
Some may need answers about an Individualized Education Program, commonly called an IEP. Others may need help resolving disputes involving services or accommodations.
If responsibilities are shifting between agencies, many families want to know who will be responsible for helping them.
The concern extends beyond administrative questions.
Isaiah Swann said children with disabilities often cannot afford lengthy delays in receiving services.
For families already navigating a complicated system, uncertainty itself can become a source of stress.
“There are so many other outcomes, so many ways that it can turn,” he said.
A larger debate about the future of special education oversight
The administration’s decision arrives as part of a broader effort to move Education Department responsibilities to other agencies while pursuing the department’s eventual elimination.
Congress would ultimately need to approve abolishing the department.
For now, however, the transfer of special education oversight is moving forward.
Florida was recently classified by the federal government as “Needs Assistance” in implementing IDEA requirements, placing it outside the highest performance category used by federal officials.
That designation underscores why federal oversight remains important to many advocates.
The Florida Department of Education did not respond to questions asking whether the state anticipates operational changes from the proposal, whether student protections could change or how it views the shift in federal oversight.
For the Swann’s, the debate comes down to a simple request.
They want decision-makers to understand what life looks like inside the classrooms affected by their choices.
“Whoever is in charge of making these rules, laws, whatever the case may be, go take a day and go into this classroom and see it for yourself,” Isaiah Swann said.
For families raising children with disabilities, the issue isn’t whether a federal office changes addresses.
It’s whether the support system they rely on will still be there when they need it.