Does your parent center regularly ask if a parent or spouse is active duty military? Is this question incorporated into your “best practices” to reach underserved families? Even if your state or area doesn’t have a big active-duty installation, it’s a great idea to ask if a parent is active duty military as they may: Continue reading “5 Reasons to Ask if a Family is Active Duty Military – and suggestions!”
Parent Center staff are knowledgeable about State and local legal resources for families, but military families have unique circumstances that can call for out-of-state or specialized assistance. For example, when they move to a new duty station, they may need to find a lawyer in the State to which they are moving to help them establish a new guardianship for an adult child with disabilities. Fortunately there is an online resource from the American Bar Association: ABA Home Front, created to help military families get legal assistance both on and off the installation.
Continue reading “Legal Resources for Highly-Mobile Military Families”
JAG stands for Judge Advocate General, and the JAG Corps (sometimes just known as JAG) is the legal branch of the military. Officers in the JAG work as legal advisors to a specific command, but their services are also available to individual service members and their families. When a military family has a child with special educational or medical needs, the JAG officer can be an invaluable resource. Families can be advised on their legal rights with respect to their child’s education (including differences between public and Department of Defense schools), legal preparation for deployment, Supplemental Social Security (SSI) and estate planning.
Continue reading “What is JAG and how does it relate to Special Education?”
