MDPH Cerfa Forms Explained in English: 15692, 15695, and What Each One Does

If you've started researching the MDPH application process, you've probably run into the term "Cerfa." Every formal administrative request in France is made on a standardized government form with a Cerfa number. For the MDPH, there are two that matter: Cerfa 15692-01 (the main application dossier) and Cerfa 15695-01 (the medical certificate). Understanding what each form asks for — and who is responsible for completing it — is the first step to submitting a dossier that doesn't come back rejected.

What "Cerfa" Actually Means

Cerfa stands for Centre d'Enregistrement et de Révision des Formulaires Administratifs — France's central registry for standardized administrative forms. Every official request to the French state has a Cerfa number attached to it. The forms are publicly available (most can be downloaded from service-public.fr), but the instructions are in French and the terminology assumes a level of familiarity with French administrative and medical vocabulary that most expats don't have on arrival.

Cerfa 15692-01: The Main Application Dossier

This is the 20-page form at the center of every MDPH application. It covers all possible requests across the disability support system — school support, financial allowances, housing adaptations, employment accommodations — so large parts of it won't apply to families seeking support for a school-aged child. That's deliberate: France uses a single form for all disability-related requests rather than separate forms per need.

What it covers for schoolchildren:

Section 1 — Identity and family information. Full biographical details for the child and parents. Legal residency status. Contact information. Expat families can list their nationality; French citizenship is not required.

Section 2 — Current situation. Current school, grade level, all ongoing medical or therapeutic care (speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychomotor therapy, etc.), and any accommodations already in place.

Section 3 — Functional limitations. This is the core diagnostic section. It describes how the disability affects the child across multiple domains: communication, social interaction, mobility, self-care, learning, and behavioral regulation. The descriptions need to be specific and functional — not just "has autism" but "requires verbal prompting to transition between activities and cannot manage independent lunch break supervision without becoming dysregulated."

Section 4 — Specific requests. Tick boxes for what you are requesting: AESH human aid (individual or mutualized), financial allowance (AEEH — Allocation d'éducation de l'enfant handicapé), specialized pedagogical equipment, ULIS class placement, IME or SESSAD referral.

Section 5 — The Projet de Vie. An open-text narrative section where parents describe the full reality of the child's disability and its impact on family life. This section carries significant weight with evaluators. The MDPH evaluation committee (EPE) almost never meets the child in person; the Projet de Vie is often their primary window into the day-to-day severity of the situation.

Who fills it in: Parents or legal guardians are responsible for the Cerfa 15692-01. You complete it, sign it, and submit it alongside the other documents.

Where to get it: Download from monparcourshandicap.gouv.fr or request a copy from your local MDPH office. The form is periodically updated, so always use the most recent version. As of 2026, the current version is 15692*01.

Cerfa 15695-01: The Medical Certificate

This is the 8-page medical document that must accompany every MDPH application. It provides the clinical justification for the support being requested. Without it, the dossier is incomplete and will be returned.

Critical rule: this form must be completed by a doctor registered in France, and it must be dated within six months of your application submission date. A medical certificate from a GP in the UK, US, or Australia will not be accepted, even if the diagnosis is the same. Even an old Cerfa 15695-01 that is more than six months old at the time of submission will be rejected.

What it covers:

The first section provides the diagnosis: ICD-10 diagnostic codes, the nature of the disability, relevant comorbidities.

The second section describes the functional repercussions of the disability — the clinical evidence that justifies the specific supports requested. A good specialist will make the connection explicit: "Given the degree of [condition], continuous human support in the school environment is clinically indicated because..."

The third section includes optional annexes:

• Volet 1 for children with hearing impairments
• Volet 2 for children with visual impairments

Who fills it in: Only a médecin traitant (French GP) or qualified specialist registered in France. Parents provide the supporting documentation from previous assessments; the doctor translates this into the French clinical framework required by the form.

Practical note for expats: Your child's existing foreign medical records are valuable input but cannot replace this form. Have your foreign assessments translated by a traducteur assermenté (sworn court-certified translator) and bring the translations to the appointment. The French doctor uses them to justify the clinical narrative they write on the Cerfa 15695-01.

The GEVA-Sco: A Third Document You Don't Fill In

If your child is already enrolled in a French school, the school's educational team must complete a separate assessment document called the GEVA-Sco (Guide d'évaluation des besoins de compensation en matière de scolarisation). It's not a Cerfa form — it's an internal Ministry of Education document — but it becomes part of the submitted dossier and is reviewed alongside both Cerfa forms.

The GEVA-Sco describes:

• The child's academic situation and observed difficulties
• What adaptations or accommodations the school has already tried
• The school's assessment of what support would be needed going forward

The school is responsible for completing the GEVA-Sco. However, parents should request a copy before submission and read it carefully. If the school's assessment doesn't accurately reflect the challenges observed at home, you can and should address the gap in your Projet de Vie.

Submitting the Complete Dossier

All three components — Cerfa 15692-01, Cerfa 15695-01, and GEVA-Sco — must be submitted together to your local MDPH office by post or in person. Many MDPH offices now also accept online submissions via monparcourshandicap.gouv.fr.

The MDPH will send an acknowledgment of receipt (accusé de réception) once the dossier is received and deemed complete. The four-month legal processing clock starts from the date of that acknowledgment — not from when you posted the form.

Keep a copy of everything you submit. If the MDPH returns the dossier for missing information, you want to be able to identify exactly what was included and when. Every time a dossier is returned and must be resubmitted, the processing clock resets.

The France Special Education Blueprint includes annotated guidance on each section of both Cerfa forms, specific language guidance for the Projet de Vie, and a pre-submission checklist that covers every document required for a complete dossier.

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