These webpages identify external resources on specific topics of interest to foster, kinship and adoptive families.
The FASD Virginia web hub is a project of nonprofit organization Formed Families Forward. FFF collaborates with other organizations, agencies, and individuals around Virginia to identify resources and manage information on this site. The hub is an emerging virtual network connecting individuals with FASD, their caregivers, and service providers to improve the lives of Virginians affected by prenatal alcohol exposure.
FASD Virginia is a group of parents, caregivers and professionals from Virginia connected around the need for greater awareness and support across the state.
Link to FASD Virginia Hub
From FASD Success (https://www.fasdsuccess.com/), this fillable packet provides families an opportunity to share unique and critical FASD-related information about their child or youth with teachers and staff.
Find more about this guide at https://www.fasdsuccess.com/understandingmefasdguide.
This fillable “All About Me” template from FFF gives families and students a simple way to share critical information with teachers, staff and others who can benefit from the essential key facts about a child or youth.
This was shared as part of our “Just So You Know… Strategies for Nontraditional Families to Share Their Information with Schools” training. It can be used by any family or student.
Fill in the blanks
Instructions
Sample completed All About Me
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.
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.
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
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 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!
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.
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
February 2018
Reducing Anxiety in the Classroom presentation by Happy Minds Counseling and Consulting, hosted by FFF. Happy Minds Counseling can be found at https://happymindscounseling.com.
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.
Presented live on February 12, 2026 by Cortney Heykoop, Chartered Special Needs Consultant, Clover Leaf Wealth Strategies, and adoptive mom. Hosted by FFF.
For families supporting a child with a disability, ABLE Accounts and Special Needs Trusts can be critical tools for future planning. They allow the family to pass down money to support the child without impacting access to governmental programs. But both ABLE Accounts & Special Needs Trusts can be confusing and overwhelming. This presentation outlined the different types of trusts, who can establish, how they are administered, a variety of ways to fund a trust and how to determine how much is needed in the trust for your child.
Presentation Slides
Webinar recording
Broadcast live on January 27, 2026, this webinar from Formed Families Forward provides an overview and demonstration of the new FASD Virginia web hub. This web hub, supported with a grant from the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia, offers information, resources and linkages related to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Sections are curated for family members, educators and health care providers. A searchable feature allows users to locate providers who have familiarity with FASD.
This is the 4th of 4 webinars in FFF’s winter FASD webinar series.
Webinar slides
Webinar Recording
Broadcast live on January 20, 2026, this webinar was presented by Misty Pruner, PhD, OTR/L and Tracy Jirikowic, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA of the University of Washington, Seattle. The webinar addresses what occupational therapy is and the range of OT applications for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders through out childhood and into adulthood.
This is the third of 4 webinars in FFF’s 2026 FASD webinar series.
Webinar slides
Webinar recording
This 2 page infographic visual is designed for families and children/youth to share information about brain-based conditions with their teachers and other educators.
The source is Brain First Parenting from Eileen Devine.
2 page graphic
Broadcast live on January 13, 2026, this webinar was presented by Ali Sturgill, PNP and Stephanie McNerney, PNP of the University of Virginia Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. It overviews fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and details specifics of the medical diagnosis of the condition, including signs at various developmental stages.
This is the second of 4 webinars in FFF’s 2026 FASD webinar series.
Webinar slides
Webinar recording
Developed by FFF as part of the WAZE to Adulthood project at PEATC, this fact sheet is designed for youth and young adults connected to foster care. It describes options for independent living after high school.
Independent Living Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet
This resource from the Center for Parent Information and Resources offers links to key information about IEPs.
Short and Sweet IEP Overview
Find detailed, data-driven information on the efficacy and side effects of ADHD interventions in a free, interactive platform called Evidence Based Interventions-ADHD (EBI-ADHD), the product of a massive umbrella review published in the British Medical Journal.1
EBI-ADHD was created to satisfy the need for accessible information about a wide array of ADHD interventions, and its findings were drawn from 221 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials that explore ADHD treatments in adults and kids, as well as from the ADHD community itself.
Evidence Based Interventions for ADHD database
From ADDitudemag.com, the ADDitude Symptom Checker will guides a user through a series of questions based on their primary concerns, and then compare responses to symptoms of more than a dozen common psychological and learning conditions. At the end, users receive a list of the psychiatric or learning conditions (if any apply) with symptoms similar those cited — and resources for further exploration.
Symptom Checker
From The Arc of Northern Virginia, this guide offers practice information and resources for families and individuals with disabilities to navigate many aspects of the justice system. It includes a list of attorneys and other key justice system contacts.
Guide
This series of tip sheets introduce key components of the individualized education program (IEP). They include brief summaries of federal regulations, tips for implementation, and resources.
The Overview of the Statement of Services & Aids includes four additional tip sheets that outline the four parts of the statement of services and aids.
Link to Tip Sheets
From VCU’s Center on Transition Innovations and the Virginia Family Engagement Network (FEN):
This easy-to-use guide empowers families to navigate post-secondary transition planning for children with disabilities, starting in early childhood and continuing into adulthood. It covers four key areas of transition planning: self-determination, postsecondary education and training, employment, and independent living and community participation. Regardless of where your child begins their special education journey, these considerations provide a supportive framework for addressing your child’s unique needs. Plan and help your child thrive in every stage of life!
Link to Transition Across the Grade Span resource
This Power of Attorney template was shared by the Virginia Poverty Law Center in fall 2025. This can be used for kinship caregivers to secure Power of Attorney for educational, medical, and other needs, from a child’s parent or legal custodian.
NOTE: FFF is not legal services provider and cannot give legal advice.
Sample Power of Attorney
From the Virginia Department of Social Services, this brochure overviews options for kinship families to care for children of a relative or close family friend. Considerations for kinship caregivers are listed as well.
VDSS Kinship Care Options brochure
From Understood, this comparison chart describes basic differences between Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 plans.
Presented live on September 29, 2025, this webinar was presented by Drs. Jodi Duke, Grace Francis and Alexandra Raines from George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development, and hosted by FFF.
Presentation slides
Crisis cycle at home handout
Recording of Autism webinar
From the Virginia Department of Education, March 2025.
VDOE FBA Guidelines
This resource from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network compares the overlapping symptoms of ADHD and child traumatic stress (CTS). It explains how a trauma-informed approach can help caregivers and professionals give the right support.
ADHD vs Trauma fact sheet
Webpage for ADHD vs Trauma fact sheet
Produced by Formed Families Forward, this one page fact sheet provides on overview of commonly-prescribed psychotropic/mental health medications for children and youth.
NOTE: This sheet offers general information for families; it is not intended as medical guidance. Always consult with a medical professional.
FFF Medication Fact Sheet