RESOURCE WEBPAGES, by TOPIC – Page 3

Video Guide to the Special Education Evaluation Process for Families

January 01, 2024

From the Virginia Department of Education, these brief videos cover aspects of the process for special education evaluation and eligibility.

Link to Video Guide

FASD and law enforcement: Moving from Reactive to Proactive webinar

February 07, 2024

This webinar was originally broadcast live on February 7, 2024. Presented by Lucy Beadnell of The Arc of Northern Virginia, this webinar offered historical perspectives on interactions between law enforcement and persons with developmental disabilities. Practical recommendations for families to prevent arrests were shared.

Presentation slides
Recording of webinar

Connection, Curiosity and Compassion presentation at LCPS Mental Wellness conference

January 27, 2024

Presented at the Loudoun Co. Public Schools Mental Health and Wellness conference on January 27, 2024, this presentation focused on how to regulation and connect with your children, so they feel safe, seen and valued.

Presentation slides

Paving the Way to College and Careers: Families and Schools Together curriculum

This progressive, 9th-12th grade curriculum, offers high school counselors with five, 1.5 hour lessons they can deliver to parents/students to help them get ready for college/careers. The lessons are structured to achieve five main goals: 1) Strengthen the parent/student relationship by providing a safe and structured space for dialogue; 2) Establish a strong connection between parents/students with their high school counselors; 3) Increase student/family knowledge of the academic and developmental milestones they will encounter in high school; 4) Develop skills and strategies necessary to be on track for a post-secondary education/career; and 5) Successfully complete a PSAT/PLAN, SAT/ACT, FAFSA, and college/technical education application or job application.

Paving the Way webpage

Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Initiative for housing

This federal program offers vouchers for Public Housing Agencies (PHAs). Eligibility includes youth at least 18 years and not more than 24 years of age (have not reached their 25th birthday) who left foster care, or will leave foster care within 90 days.

FYI information from HUD
Information on FYI program from National Center for Housing and Child Welfare

Parenting Tips for Kids with FASD

From nonprofit Creating A Family, this tip sheet offers 7 strategies for parenting children and youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Parenting Tips fact sheet

Special Education for Formed Families: Making It Work! webinar

October 04, 2023

Broadcast live on October 4, 2023, this webinar from FFF was the 2nd of 3 in the Fall 2023 Helping Foster, Adoptive and Kinship Families to Navigate Special Education series. The presentation focused on formal avenues for securing services and supports for children and youth with special needs including 504 plans and individualized education programs (IEPs), and addressed potential sticking points for foster, adoptive and kinship families.

Slides from webinar
Webinar Recording

Military Families with Disabilities Resources

October 02, 2023

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. Additional resources from Formed Families Forward and PEATC are also linked.

Military Family Resources
Mental Wellness and Trauma-Informed Practices in Military Families video from FFF
Turning 18 in Military Families fact sheet from PEATC

The Virginia Family’s Guide to Special Education

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

Turning 18 fact sheets

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). One fact sheet, Youth in Foster Care in Virginia: What Happens When You Turn 18 is specifically for youth in foster care and was written by Formed Families Forward as part of an agreement with the WAZE project.

Other sheets address all youth and another addresses youth in military families.

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

Me and My FASD website

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

Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (POPFASD)

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

LGBTQ family resources

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)

988 Mental Health Suicide and Crisis Lifeline FAQ

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

VDOE special education guidance documents

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

Kinship Care Guide from Virginia DSS

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.

Kinship Care Guide

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: What Families Say about Parenting FASD fact sheet

June 09, 2023

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.

Fact Sheets on Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Academic Well-Being and Success

June 01, 2023

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:

school and district leaders
student support teams
educators and school-based staff
families

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

2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers

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 on RTI/MTSS and special education referral

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