Paducah Public Schools

“Through our data, we found that families didn’t even know where to start,” Anthony said. “If they did find one place to start, they figured out that they had to do A, B and C, and that could mean getting online and having to fill out forms. Some of our families have the same needs that our students have, so without having somebody to help guide them through the process, it’s overwhelming. It was easy for them to just throw up their hands and walk away, and then that left our precious students without needed services to keep going.”

The event featured booths with information and resources from Easterseals West Kentucky, Four Rivers Behavioral Health, Ace Academy, LLC, Holland House by Rolling in Faith and the Kentucky Special Parent Involvement Network, Inc. The transition night was funded by a SPARK grant from the Kentucky Department of Education. Family Court Judge Deanna Wise Henschel was the keynote speaker, and led a breakout session about guardianship. She shared her perspective as a parent with three children with IEPs.

“Tonight is about transition, and I want to be honest with you about what that word meant to me the first time that I heard it,” Henschel said. “It was scary, because transition meant that my child was going to leave the structure and the safety net that the school system had provided. It meant that all of the services that I had fought for, the amazing teachers who knew and loved my children, the IEPs that took years of tweaking, were all going to change. I did not know what was on the other side. What I’ve learned, and what I hope that you can learn tonight, is that there are pathways on the other side of this. There are supports and services, and there are people out there that are devoted to helping our kids with the next steps.”

While the event was focused on the transition to adulthood, parents with children from kindergarten age to high school seniors were in attendance. Kristina McDowell, outreach coordinator for Paducah Public Schools, said accessing these resources can be a long, complicated process involving lengthy waiting lists.

“Some waivers can take up to 10 to 15 years,” McDowell said. “So our families have children in high school, and they’re realizing, ‘Oh, I’m eligible for this.’ Well, actually they’re not, because most people need to get started on it in elementary.”

Anthony said while this event is only open to students from the Paducah Public Schools system, because the SPARK grant used to fund it is focused on the district, the goal is to continue the event and incorporate neighboring school districts.

“We are extremely passionate about getting this needed information out to families,” Anthony said. “So we felt like it didn’t need to stop with Paducah Public Schools, because there are several families that are in the same boat as our families here.”

Madyson Shelton attended for her daughter, Winter Holmes, who has Level 2 autism. She said seeking out information and resources can be overwhelming, and she was appreciative of the event. She mainly attended to learn more about guardianship.

“I kind of have fears of whether she’s going to be able to be on her own or with me, or if she’s gonna need other services,” Shelton said. “I’m just kind of getting ahead. She’s only eight, so we’ve got a while, but I just want to kind of jump on it.”

Anissa Woods attended for her nine-year-old son, Camden Woods, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2021 due to abuse from his biological father. She said she came to learn about applying for waivers — which she said can be an intimidating process — and appreciated the hands-on booths and resources.

“It’s very hard,” Woods said. “You’ve got to do a lot of Googling, and you get misled, and you get misinformation. So something like this is really amazing for kids like mine, because we don’t have the resources lined up and put right there in front of you to guide you, to put the parents on the right path to get their kid the help that they need when they get out of your care.”

Katrina Strong attended for her son, Bryce Strong, a senior at Paducah Tilghman High School, who has had an IEP since attending Paducah Head Start. She said she came to learn about the resources and options available because they’ll be “leaving the safety” of the school’s IEP in a few weeks. She said she learned a lot from visiting the booths.

“There are different facilities here for day services, which is something that we are looking at for our child,” Strong said. “We have chosen one already, which is the Holland House by Rolling in Faith that’s in Metropolis, Illinois. He’ll be attending there. We also stopped at Four Rivers, and we have a meeting set up with them next week, going over some different waivers and some support systems that are going to help him after leaving the school.”

Strong said the effort in seeking out these resources independently is heavy, turning into a seemingly endless cycle of phone calls and Google searches. She said seeing so many different facilities represented and getting all of the information in one place is “amazing”.

“This is the first one for this school system, and I do not think it’ll be the last one,” Strong said. “I can already tell that they are reaching a lot of people. We’re getting educated, getting the information that we need. It means everything, because you honestly do feel isolated and you feel alone when it comes to finding resources that are available for your child.”