Consider their role and the conflict of interest with their financial relationship with programs:
* Edcons claim to be experts when advising parents and families, but anyone can hang out their shingle and set up shop as a consultant.
* No background in children's mental health, social work or education is required. "Certification" is easily purchased from trade organizations that cater to edcons.
* Edcons routinely refer children they have never met or spoken with to programs--often to programs they have never visited.
* Edcons are paid by both the programs and the parents for the referrals, increasing responsibility and liability for the referral.
* Programs have staff members with job titles like "Coodinator of Consultant Services." Edcons are a central focus of their marketing and advertising efforts.
* Edcons are wooed, wined and dined by programs to incent them to refer to programs.
* When children die or are abused in programs, local law enforcement and prosecutors are often unaware of the involvement of educational consultants in the process. We can change that.
Educational consultants must be legally accountable for their referrals.
Auntie Em