Truth, Paperwork & Pushback. Stories, strategy & sarcasm from NJR Advocacy, LLC

I’ve been talking with a few families in my district lately. They’re struggling to find the right school for their children. And it hit me—I never really found one for my own son either. I guess I didn’t fully put it together back then—that there wasn’t a school out there that could meet his needs. Because in the end, he did graduate. Not in the traditional way, but through a small, quiet ceremony. The most important thing is that he has his high school diploma. But getting there… let’s just say I’m certain it took at least 20 years off my life. And for him, it created a deep distrust of humanity that I can never erase. The families I’ve been talking with have different stories, different struggles. But we share one heartbreaking truth: we never found a school for our kids. There is no placement for children who have survived years of being forced to mold themselves into environments that were never built for them. And here’s the hardest part: all of this could have been avoide...

When I stepped into the world of special education advocacy, I had one big question on my mind: How can I make this affordable for parents who need it most? Advocates carry a lot of weight on their shoulders. I know this because I am one. We spend hours preparing for meetings, reviewing evaluations, crafting strategies, and trying to hold school districts accountable for doing what they should have been doing all along. The work is intense, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. And yet, after all that effort, sometimes we walk out of those meetings without the changes a student truly needs. Those are the moments that sit heavy on your heart because it’s not just about paperwork or policies. It’s about a child who didn’t ask for any of this. A child who just wants to feel successful in school, to fit in, and to feel like they belong. What keeps me up at night are the parents who can’t afford help. The ones who sit in meetings alone, hearing words and acronyms that don’t make sense,...