Developed by Va Department of Education’s Family Engagement Network (FEN) and Formed Families Forward, this checklist is for any kinship caregiver who is enrolling a child or youth in schools and working with schools to get appropriate services and supports.
From The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: A National Technical Assistance Center:
This fact sheet on Partnering with Schools offers key takeaways from the second of five sessions for social service professionals who want to improve outreach to kin caregivers, conducted in 2024. The fact sheet gives suggestions for how kinship caregivers and kinship organizations can partner with schools, and overviews a tiered approach to engaging kinship caregivers in schools.
From the Appalachia Regional Education Lab’s Kinship Caregivers and Grandfamilies Community of Practice, convened in 2023 and 2024, this collection offers a description of and links to Suggested Readings and Tools and Resources.
The Appalachia REL partners with key stakeholders in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia to develop resources as part of its Supporting Students, Grandfamilies, and Kinship Caregivers Community of Practice (COP). Learn more about the COP at https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/region/about/appalachia.
FFF participates in the COP and FFF resources are included in the Resource List.
From the Grandfamilies and Kinship Support Network, a national technical assistance center:
This toolkit contains five actions for K-12 school professionals and kinship service providers to better support students and caregivers in kinship/grandfamilies. The five actions each include specific steps and embedded tools to help children and their caregivers thrive in K-12 settings, and is a companion piece to Pathways to Success: K-12 Education Support for Kinship and Grandfamilies, the Generations United 2024 State of Grandfamilies & Kinship Care Report, which is available at www.gureport.org
This checklist developed by Virginia Department of Education’s Family Engagement Network (FEN) and Formed Families Forward offers schools a checklist for school staff to use when working with relative or kinship caregivers raising children and youth.
From the National Child Welfare Information Gateway at the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, this fact sheet is designed to help kin caregivers—including grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, and other relatives as well as family friends caring for children— work effectively with the child welfare system.
It also includes resources, such as links to more detailed information or places to find support, to help you learn about and navigate the child welfare system.
May 2022
From the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: A National Technical Assistance Center, this fact sheet address a number of key issues kinship caregivers face when support their kin in school.
Education is high on the to-do lists of kin and grandfamily caregivers. Accessing educational services for children in their care can be difficult. Frequently, kin/grandfamily caregivers lack legal custody of the children and/or are unfamiliar with the local education system. This resource is designed to help direct-service professionals assist caregivers in ensuring the children they raise have the educational experiences needed to thrive.
January 2023
This one pager from the new Northern Virginia Family Network (NVFN) designed for professional staff who work with families and youth. It offers some brief, straightforward suggestions and reminders about effectively communicating and building partnerships with families who are in need of education, mental health, disability and other services and supports.
Members of the NVFN are found on the back of the flyer.
This Guide from Virginia Family Special Education Connection offers families and professionals links to state- and local-specific resources for enrolling students, education, medical care, mental health, transitioning students to post-secondary settings, courts, and other areas.
Updated Summer 2023