Parents and caregivers of children with medical complexity often focus solely on their child’s health and wellbeing. But what happens when the parent/caregiver gets sick?

It’s a crucial question that families must consider. Advance preparations can help parents/caregivers reduce stress, lighten their mental load and protect the child’s health and safety during a family illness and other emergencies.

Pediatric doctors from Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provide advice on how to start these conversations with your pediatrician during the pandemic and beyond.

“Educational Rights and Responsibilities: Understanding Special Education in Illinois” is a guide for parents, teachers, administrators and others to learn about the educational rights of children who receive special education and related services due to disabilities that affect their ability to achieve academically.

Special education laws and procedures are complicated and can be difficult to understand. This guide from the Illinois State Board of Education will clarify some of the procedures of special education. It contains information about many of the most common topics related to the broad special education landscape, from identification and evaluation to transition planning and complaint procedures

The DuPage Health Coalition (DHC) and several Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) are providing a variety of health and financial support services to uninsured and low-income residents in the county.

COVID-19 testing, telemedicine and opioid use disorder treatment services are among the services available at these FQHCs located throughout DuPage County.

Click on the health coalition flyer, which is in English and Spanish, for more information.

A list of food pantries and hours of operation in the Chicago south suburbs.

The Stanford Health Literacy Lab in collaboration with families and providers developed the COVID-19 Preparedness Tool for Families and Caregivers to help families of children with special healthcare needs with rpreparing for and responding to COVID-19 in a variety of settings.

The user-friendly tool, also available in Spanish, provides tips for home, healthcare settings, schools and work. It also offers advice for coping with family stress.

Community Partners for Affordable Housing has information on emergency rent and utility assistance programs to help Lake County, Illinois households whose incomes have decreased due to COVID-19. Their website outlines the different programs and provides eligibility guidelines.

If you need help submitting your application, accessing computer equipment, are unsure which program may be better for you or have other questions, please contact Emergency Assistance Coordinator, Toni Martinez, at tmartinez@cpahousing.org or (847) 263-7478 ext 30.

Community Housing Advocacy & Development (CHAD) is a nonprofit corporation that provides quality, affordable, long-term rental housing to income-qualifying, hardworking individuals and families who struggle to support themselves.

CHAD has over 500 housing units of all property types in 30 communities across DuPage, Kane, Will and portions of Cook counties in northeastern Illinois. Properties include apartment homes, condominiums, duplexes, townhouses, and single-family homes. CHAD offers below-market rents to income-qualified applicants.

The Illinois Department of Human Services is offering online purchasing for more than 1.8 million Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) customers across a million households.

Online SNAP will give families easier access to food during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. Busy parents will no longer have to stress about how they can pick their kids up from school and make it to the grocery store before dinner. And those working multiple jobs or the late shift won’t have to rush to make it before the store closes. All families will have another option to independently secure the food they need.

The Sangamon County Department of Community Resources strives to improve the quality of life for people in-need in Sangamon County through department programs, services and referrals that promote economic stability and/or self-motivation.

The department provides several resource guides that cover financial assistance, food pantries, health care, housing and more.

It’s not uncommon for parents and caregivers of children with neurologic conditions to experience PTSD.

In this video from the Child Neurology Foundation, a caregiver and a psychologist discuss the impact that this has – especially during times of isolation and stress like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.