What to Know About Setting Up a Special Needs Trust

Do you really need a special needs trust? How should you set one up, and who should you name as your guardian? Here's what parents raising kids with disabilities need to know.

Special Needs Trusts: The Basics

Do I Need an Estate Planning Lawyer?

If you’re paying an attorney to draft your legal documents (and you should!), you want to make sure they have experience working with other parents raising kids with disabilities.

Do I need an estate lawyer with experience working with parents of children who have disabilities?

Independent Educational Evaluations Q&A

If a family wants to get reimbursed for an unconventional assessment, they need to provide evidence that their child has a need for a service resulting from that assessment.

What if the school district won’t fund an assessment I request?

Estate planning and making the vital decisions that go in legal documents

Estate planning means making vital decisions about our children’s care, our assets, and our own medical care — and it requires writing those decisions down in legal documents. The process can seem overwhelming, which is why we brought in some help from Brianna Davidson Jarrett!


The 5 Most Important Estate Planning Decisions

Basics of Estate Planning for Families Raising a Child with a Disability

As a parent raising a child with unique needs, you do so much for your kid. Brianna Davidson Jarret, Maryland’s Assistant Attorney General and a parent of three, including a child with disabilities, promises that estate planning is no harder than all the things you’re already doing.


You Can 100% Handle Estate Planning 

Estate Planning with a Family with Kids with Disabilities 

When it comes to estate planning, if you’re paying an attorney to draft your legal documents (and you should!), you want to make sure they have experience working with other parents raising kids with disabilities.

Work with a professional who has experience with parents in your situation

Estate Planning Tips for Families Raising Kids with Disabilities

Estate planning means making vital decisions about our children’s care, our assets, and our own medical care — and it requires writing those decisions down in legal documents. The process can seem overwhelming, which is why we brought in some help!

3 Tips for Parents Diving into Estate Planning

What to Know About IEEs for Kids with IEPs

If you feel that the school district hasn't accurately assessed your child, you can request an Independent Educational Evaluation, or IEE. Learn how an IEE is conducted and how it may benefit your child with an IEP.

Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE) 101

What Happens if You Disagree with Your Child's School Placement

In special education, your child’s school placement can make a big difference in their success in the classroom. Special Education Advocate and Board Certified Behavior Analyst Dr. Pelangka discusses the steps you can take if you disagree with your child’s placement.

Steps You Can Take If You Disagree With Your Child’s School Placement

How does LRE look in Non-Public Schools

Special Education Advocate and Board Certified Behavior Analyst Dr. Pelangka defines LRE (Least Restrictive Environment) for children with disabilities in school, and how it may change for each child.

Defining LRE (Least Restrictive Environment) & How It May Differ For Each Child

Does a Child's Placement Affect FAPE

Special Education Advocate and Board Certified Behavior Analyst Dr. Pelangka discusses how your child’s placement (where they go to school) may affect FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education).

How Your Child’s Placement Affects FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education)

When are non-public schools right for a child in special education? The Undivided team discusses this topic, and some things parents should look for if a non-public school is recommended.

Discussing Non-Public Schools & LRE (Least Restrictive Environment)

Special Education Services and Individualized Education Programs

Learn about special education services, everything you need to know about IEPs, and how to advocate for the services and supports your child needs.

Education and IEPs

Insurance Options for Parents of Kids with Disabilities

Whether you’re using private insurance or public benefits like Medi-Cal or a combination of the two, get tips on how to fund the supports and services your child needs.

Insurance

What to Do When Your Child Has Received a New Diagnosis

Has your child received a new diagnosis? Are you concerned about a developmental delay? Check out these resources to help you navigate medical services, funding, and more.

New Diagnosis

Public Benefits - Government Programs for Children with Disabilities

Depending on your income, your child’s age and diagnosis, and other factors, there are a variety of government programs available to you.

Public Benefits

Helping Kids With Disabilities Manage Anxiety, Stress, & Mental Health

Learn how to help your child manage stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges with these resources from therapists and other experts.

Mental Health In Children with Disabilities

Financially Supporting Your Child With Disabilities into Adulthood

Check out our resources to help plan your child's transition into adulthood and set them up for success.

Future and Financial Planning

Family Life - Advice for Parenting Children with Disabilities

Parenting a child with disabilities comes with unique joys and challenges. Learn how to meet your family's diverse needs and how to talk about disability together.

Family Life

Self-Care for Parents Raising Children With Disabilities

Raising a child with disabilities can place a lot of demands on parents. Check in with your own mental and physical health needs through these resources.

Self-Care for Parents

IEP Prep Tips and Advice for Parents

Being an advocate for your child can make a world of difference when it comes to the services and supports written into their IEP.  Hear how one parent and an Undivided Navigator came together to make sure a kindergartener had her needs met.

3 Tips for Advocating for Your Child in an IEP Meeting

End of School Year To-Do List for Parents of Kids with Disabilities

Learn what parents should be trying to wrap up before the end of the school year, like plans for ESY, transitions for the next year, learning loss, and other IEP meeting prep.

What Do Parents Need to Do Before the End of the School Year?

Estate Planning Considerations for Parents Raising Kids with Disabilities

While it can be overwhelming, and incredibly complicated, your plan should be one that you feel confident in understanding as well as adapting over time with your growing or changing family.

What should my estate planning include as a parent of a child with a disability?

Basics of Estate Planning for Young Families & Families with Dependent Children

Does the thought of estate planning give you heart palpitations? You’re not alone. Former estate attorney and current Assistant Attorney General Brianna Davidson Jarrett gently shows us why estate planning doesn’t need to feel impossible to tackle, and why we absolutely have to do it. 

Estate Planning — We Dread It, But We Gotta Do It, with Brianna Davidson Jarrett

Advocating for Inclusion with Supports in Kindergarten

Undivided Parent and Navigator duo Isabelle Smith and Kelly Hatfield talk about how they worked together to advocate for inclusion with supports, language immersion, and retention. Isabelle shares how her advocacy affected her daughter’s kindergarten experience.

Unite and Conquer: Our Lessons Learned From the Kindergarten IEP

Addressing concerns as the school year ends

Special education advocate Dr. Sarah Pelangka helps us tie up any loose ends and concerns we may have in our kids’ education as the school year comes to a close.


End of Year Wrap-Up with Dr. Pelangka

Update to Medi-Cal’s Asset Limits for People with Disabilities

A new California law will expand Medi-Cal access for people with disabilities, including children. The law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2022, increases the asset limit for Non-Modified Adjusted Gross Income eligibility. 