118 STAT. 2703 PUBLIC LAW 108–446—DEC. 3, 2004 ‘‘(I) CONSENT FOR INITIAL EVALUATION.—The agency proposing to conduct an initial evaluation to determine if the child qualifies as a child with a disability as defined in section 602 shall obtain informed consent from the parent of such child before conducting the evaluation. Parental consent for evaluation shall not be construed as consent for placement for receipt of special education and related services. ‘‘(II) CONSENT FOR SERVICES.—An agency that is responsible for making a free appropriate public education available to a child with a disability under this part shall seek to obtain informed con sent from the parent of such child before providing special education and related services to the child. ‘‘(ii) ABSENCE OF CONSENT.— ‘‘(I) FOR INITIAL EVALUATION.—If the parent of such child does not provide consent for an initial evaluation under clause (i)(I), or the parent fails to respond to a request to provide the consent, the local educational agency may pursue the initial evaluation of the child by utilizing the procedures described in section 615, except to the extent incon sistent with State law relating to such parental consent. ‘‘(II) FOR SERVICES.—If the parent of such child refuses to consent to services under clause (i)(II), the local educational agency shall not provide spe cial education and related services to the child by utilizing the procedures described in section 615. ‘‘(III) EFFECT ON AGENCY OBLIGATIONS.—If the parent of such child refuses to consent to the receipt of special education and related services, or the parent fails to respond to a request to pro vide such consent— ‘‘(aa) the local educational agency shall not be considered to be in violation of the requirement to make available a free appro priate public education to the child for the failure to provide such child with the special education and related services for which the local educational agency requests such con sent; and ‘‘(bb) the local educational agency shall not be required to convene an IEP meeting or develop an IEP under this section for the child for the special education and related services for which the local educational agency requests such consent. ‘‘(iii) CONSENT FOR WARDS OF THE STATE.— ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—If the child is a ward of the State and is not residing with the child’s parent, the agency shall make reasonable efforts to obtain the informed consent from the parent (as defined in section 602) of the child for an
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