The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to have a system in place that ensures that every student with a disability has a “parent” who can make special education decisions on that student’s behalf.  The “parent” is a required member of the team that develops the Individualized Education Program (IEP) for the student.  Usually the biological parent or adoptive parent is the “parent” for IDEA purposes.  In a few instances, the local education agency (LEA) must assign a special education surrogate parent for a student when under the IDEA no parent can be identified or located after reasonable efforts have been made.