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The Branch Staff.
For children in National Guard or Reservist families, or whose parent was injured in military service.
When a family has a child with disabilities, it may be challenging to find activities and programs that are both affordable and benefit their child. This grant program helps fund activities for military-connected children, with and without disabilities, whose parents have financial challenges because of their service.
Continue reading “Activity Grants for Military-Connected Kids”
Your work with military families can be rewarding, especially when they share information with you that’s useful for getting them the help they need. Military families don’t always share information freely, because they are told not to share personal details—or even the fact that they are a military family. This is because of Operational Security, often referred to as OPSEC. This article explains the ways OPSEC may limit what a military family can share, and how you can build trust with military families. Oh yes, and it explains the ham!
Continue reading “OPSEC and Ham: Personal Information and Your Work with Military Families”
Every year in the month of April there is a celebration honoring military children, called Month of the Military Child (MoMC). Do you want to show your support? It’s easy!
Continue reading “Everything You Need for Month of the Military Child!”
Wouldn’t it be nice to know what those acronyms and terms mean that military connected folks use so frequently? Well, look no further! Continue reading ““The Voicemail”: Where to Learn Military Acronyms and Terms”
Parent Centers know the Procedural Safeguards in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Did you know that Department of Defense Activity (DoDEA) Schools have their own processes? If you work with military families who have a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to or from these locations or work in the following locations (whose children attended or plan on attending a DoDEA school) this information will be particularly helpful for you. Continue reading “Procedural Safeguards in Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) Schools”
As we know, and research shows, “military parents of children with disabilities experience additional stress compared to those military parents with typically developing children. This can be attributed to the increase in time and resources that are needed in the daily care of a child with a disability” (Russo & Fallon, 2001).
Continue reading “Deployment: What it is and What it Means for the Families you Serve”
When natural disasters and other emergencies strike, your Parent Center will step up to locate services and supports for affected families. Military families have some additional concerns during emergencies, but they also have significant resources available for just such situations. You can direct military families to these resources both during an emergency, and for future planning, which lets your Parent Center concentrate on other types of assistance. The military resources include planning for an evacuation when individuals have disabilities.
Continue reading “Disasters and Emergencies-Help Military Families with These Resources”
Did you know that the adult-aged child of an active duty or retired service member may qualify to retain their military medical benefits and other base privileges after age 21 if they meet the following criteria? The adult child, also referred to as the “Incapacitated Adult Child” must be
Continue reading “What Is Secondary Dependency? (Incapacitated Child 21 Years of Age or Older)”
We’ve created a guide to our most useful materials on military families: their culture, their unique needs, and the military systems that support them when they have a child with a disability. There is something for every staff member, from those with lengthy experience working with military families to those just starting out. AND-links to parent handouts, including 3 handouts you can brand with your Parent Center logo!
Continue reading “Easy Branch Orientation and Guide for Staff Training”
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”