These webpages identify external resources on specific topics of interest to foster, kinship and adoptive families.
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.
Checklist for kinship caregivers in PDF
web link to Checklists
This 9.5 minute video is designed for school personnel and families. It offers an overview of education equity and suggests strategies for facilitating greater educational equity through meaningful family engagement practices. The video features the voices and lived experiences of students, parents and caregivers, and school leaders. Strategies are organized by key components of family engagement in multitiered systems of supports.
The video has captions available in English and Spanish.
A fact sheet accompanies the video.
The video is produced by Formed Families Forward in our role as family partner to the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports (VTSS) project.
VIDEO with English and Spanish captions
Promoting Equity through Family Engagement Video FACT SHEET
Feedback survey. Tell us what you think!
Trauma Sensitive Approaches for Home and School videos– produced by Formed Families Forward as part of our work with the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports project. Under 10 minutes in length, each video provides an introduction to critical trauma content.
The videos include:
1) Understanding Trauma
2) Responding to Trauma
3) Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools
Three fact sheets are designed to support the Trauma Sensitive Responses at Home and School video series.
Individual Fact Sheets are available as separate documents, and all three fact sheets in one document. Accessible text versions of all fact sheets are also available in English and Spanish.
Video Series
Fact Sheets for Videos 1 through 3
Video 1 Fact Sheet Understanding Trauma
Video 2 Fact Sheet Responding to Trauma
Video 3 Fact Sheet Trauma Sensitive Schools
Video 1 Fact Sheet Understanding Trauma accessible version
Video 2 Fact Sheet Responding to Trauma accessible version
Video 3 Fact Sheet Trauma Sensitive Schools accessible version
SPANISH Video 1 Fact Sheet accessible version
SPANISH Video 2 Fact Sheet accessible version
SPANISH Video 3 Fact Sheet accessible version
ARABIC Video 1 Fact Sheet
ARABIC Video 2 Fact Sheet
ARABIC Video 3 Fact Sheet
Designed for family members, this 10 minute video explains the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports (VTSS) and offers concrete tips and strategies to engage with school partners more effectively. The video features family members and school staff from around Virginia, sharing their own lived experiences and suggestions for building stronger connections between families and educators to improve outcomes for all students. A fact sheet accompanies the video. Spanish and Arabic captions are available via YouTube settings.
We welcome your feedback on the video at https://tinyurl.com/yah2542o .
Family Engagement video link
Accessible video transcript
Fact Sheet to Accompany Family Engagement with Schools video
ARABIC Video fact sheet
SPANISH Video Fact Sheet, accessible Word format
Feedback Survey; Tell us what you think!
This series of videos features six key elements to engage families in Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports (VTSS). Designed for use by educators and families, the three videos highlight specific strategies for school teams to consider as they build momentum around family-school partnerships and strengthen skills to meaningfully engage families in multi-tiered systems.
Spanish and Arabic captions are available via YouTube settings. A fact sheet accompanies the videos.
Produced by Formed Families Forward, family partner to the VTSS project, in conjunction with Atom Stream Communications, LLC.
Link to Videos
Fact Sheet to accompany videos
Accessible Fact Sheet to accompany videos
Video 1 transcript
Video 2 transcript
Video 3 transcript
SPANISH Fact Sheet, in accessible Word format
ARABIC Fact Sheet
From the Virginia Department of Education, this launch page offers a copy of state regulations for implementation of IDEA, and other state and federal special education policies.
Informative PDF on the ABCs of Back to School with FASD from the North American Council on Adoptable Children.
Trauma Sensitive Approaches for Home and School videos– produced by Formed Families Forward as part of our work with the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports project. Under 10 minutes in length, each video provides an introduction to critical trauma content.
The videos include:
1) Understanding Trauma
2) Responding to Trauma
3) Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools
Children and youth who have intellectual disabilities or developmental disorders are at elevated risk for co-occurring psychiatric or behavioral problems. These young people pose a serious challenge for administrators, program directors and clinicians, especially when they present with aggressive or disruptive behaviors. When appropriate community services have not been organized, these youth can be among the most difficult and costly to serve. Across the country, their families report relentless stress, partly because it is very difficult to obtain the help they need. This paper provides resources and strategies that have improved outcomes and lowered costs, while diminishing risk for institutional placements, referrals to juvenile justice and child welfare.
The educational strategies presented in this handbook are intended to be helpful to all teachers who work with students who may have a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). If this is your first time teaching a student with an FASD, this guide should be extremely helpful. While many of the strategies are general and are appropriate to use with all students who may share some of the learning needs of students with an FASD, they should be especially helpful to use with students who have been diagnosed with an FASD, from Sanford School of Medicine, Univ of South Dakota.
NAMI of Northern Virginia offers a number of support groups for families and individuals struggling with mental illness. Find the list of support groups as well as other resources form NAMI of Northern Virginia.
This page on the Center for Family Involvement website offers links to video and print resources designed for Virginia military-connected families who are raising children and youth wtih disabilities.
Military Family Resources
Revised in 2023, this Guide from the Virginia Department of Education offers an overview of special education policies and procedures for the state.
Virginia Family's Guide to Special Education
These fact sheets for youth and young adults focus on critical actions, items and services that are important when a youth turns 18 years of age.
Produced as part of the WAZE to Adulthood project of the Parent Educational Advocacy and Training Center (PEATC). The fact sheet for youth in foster care was written by Formed Families Forward as part of an agreement with the WAZE project.
Youth in Foster Care in Virginia - What Happens When You Turn 18 fact sheet
Turning 18 in Virginia: A Resource Document for families
Turning 18 in Virginia: A Resource Document for Military Families
This website from the UK Department of Health and Social Care is designed for children, youth and young adults who have had prenatal exposure to alcohol, and may be diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
Interactive tools and resources help youth, families and connected adults learn more about the condition and how to cope.
Me and My FASD website
A website of the Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (POPFASD), funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Education shares current research, ideas, strategies, training and resources in order to build capacity in schools for students with FASD and their teachers.
POPFASD website
This fact sheet from Formed Families Forward and the WAZE to Adulthood project at PEATC is designed for youth in foster care. It names specific considerations when a youth in foster care turns 18. Links to other Virginia resources are provided.
Youth in Foster Care in Virginia- What Happens when you turn 18 fact sheet
A collection of linked resources for families raising LGBTQ+ children, youth and young adults, and professionals and communities who support them.
FFF Building LGBTQ Awareness and Acceptance webinar training and related resources
Family Acceptance Project LGBTQ Youth and Family resources
The Trevor Project
The National Center for Youth with Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression (The National SOGIE Center)
These mental health resources were developed for teens and young adults for the August 4, 2023 FFF Family Picnic.
Teen mental health resources
From NAMI, updated information about the 988 mental health suicide and crisisline, as of July 2023, the one year anniversary of the 988 line.
Updated Frequently Asked Questions on 988
Fast Statistics on 988 from NAMI Northern Virginia
This Virginia Department of Education page links to official technical assistance and policy guidance documents related to special education in the state.
These resources were developed to provide professional development and technical assistance to parents, school personnel, and other consumers. All resources are intended to provide guidance for addressing the regulatory requirements and instructional elements needed for a student’s free appropriate public education (FAPE).
VDOE technical assistance and guidance documents
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.
School checklist for Working with Caregivers in PDF
web link to Checklists
From the Virginia Department of Social Services, this guide overviews options for relatives and close family friends of children in foster care. Legal and financial implications of each option are reviewed. Includes links to other kinship care resources.
This Fact Sheet, produced by GMU Intern Charlotte Walmsley in Spring 2023, provides suggestions based on lived experiences of parents and caregivers raising children, youth and young adults with FASD. Links to additional resources are included.
In March of 2023, the U.S. Department of Education released Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive, and Fair School Climates for students and school staff, featuring specific recommendations for evidence-based practices that allow students to learn, grow, and be successful. To enhance state and local implementation of these guiding principles, a collaborative of technical assistance centers serving the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools developed a series of four fact sheets. The series describes best practices and approaches to help support and respond to students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and academic needs, including practices designed to reduce the use of exclusionary discipline in schools.
Each fact sheet is tailored to a specific audience at the school or district level:
The fact sheets also feature resources to help support stakeholders in this important work.
Fact sheets are available in English and Spanish.
Links to 4 Fact Sheets for different audiences, in English and Spanish
From the US Administration for Community Living, Health and Human Services, this 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers was created to support family caregivers of all ages, from youth to grandparents, and regardless of where they live or what caregiving looks like for them and their loved ones.
The strategy was developed jointly by the advisory councils created by the RAISE Family Caregiving Act and the Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act, with extensive input from the public, including family caregivers and the people they support. It will be updated in response to public comments and will evolve with the caregiving landscape.
Link to Caregiver Strategy and related documents
Clarifications from the US Office of Special Education Programs and the Virginia Department of Education in spring 2023 that clarifies responsibilities of schools to allow a parent or caregiver to request an initial evaluation of child suspected of having a disability. Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multitiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) cannot be used to delay or deny an initial evaluation.
3/14/23 Federal clarifications including links to two earlier memoranda
4/21/23 Virginia Superintendents' Memo
Originally broadcast live on May 9, 2023, this webinar from FFF’s Renee Myers offered an overview of typical parenting stressors, self-care techniques and approaches for making a self-care plan for the upcoming summer break.
Recording of webinar
Copy of presentation slides
Proof Alliance NC strives to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies by providing training, education and resources to professionals who serve individuals of reproductive age, deliver prevention messaging and resources to individuals who can become pregnant, as well as resources for professionals who provide supports to families and individuals impacted by FASD.
This series of three webcasts from VCU Autism Center for Education, presented by Dr. Ruth Brown, were made available in February, March and April 2023.
Webcast Part 1: The Essential Messages of Trauma Responsive Practices
Webcast Part 2: Understanding Traumatic Stress Responses
Part 3: Trauma Responsive Strategies for the Classroom
On March 8, 2023, FFF hosted a live webinar featuring the new Critical Crossroads videos and other resources. Provided here is a re-recording, that does not include time for the pre-and post-tests or Q & A that were included in the live webinar.
Recording of Critical Crossroads resources webinar March 2023