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Impact Story: Houston & Emily Jones

June 26, 2022

I do not have enough words to say how much Katrina means to our family. When I was at my lowest point as a parent advocate for my child, Katrina came along side us in a powerful way. She was given less than a week to get familiar with our situation, get to know our son, and research our legal rights to give him the support he needed to be receiving as a freshman in high school. And she did all three! She was there to guide, support, and fight during our IEP meetings—and fight she did. The end result was an IEP that truly met my son’s needs and allowed him to remain in the regular education setting at our local high school, something the special education team was trying to take away from him. We could not have fought this fight alone. I do not know what we would have done without her during those tense IEP meetings. Even my 15-year-old son left those meetings thankful Katrina was there. And if you get high praise from a 15-year-old boy, you have definitely earned it!


~ Houston & Emily Jones

December 2024 Success

January 27, 2025
We were able to get two students much needed IEPs after their families were denied their request to have their child evaluated multiple times before they contacted Family First Advocacy. We helped a parent write a successful Complaint to ISBE regarding their students IEP not being followed. We successfully requested IEP Evaluations for three students who had been previously been denied. We successfully maintained a student’s placement in public school with their peers and rewrote their IEP to provide the appropriate supports and services. We successfully moved a student out of a life skills class that was an inappropriate place and rewrote their IEP to provide the support they needed to be successful in a combination of gen-ed and contained classrooms. We successfully wrote briefs and gathered documentation for two Due Process complaints. The first case was accepted by Equip for Equality and won the case for the student.  The second case was settled by the school after they were presented with the brief and documentation.

Impact Story: Sara Schroeder

June 19, 2023
I want to take a moment to thank Katrina Roberts for all the amazing work and help she has done for my family. I really appreciate all she has done. She is an amazing person to work with and she doesn’t sugar coat anything, she gets straight to the point. My 3 daughters who had a very rough year at school last year due to judgement, discrimination, and bullying. No matter what I said or how many times I went in to the school nothing ever got resolved. That is until the day I met Katrina and she helped us get justice. Thanks to her, my daughters are looking at a brighter school year ahead. I would recommend this lady to any family in need of help if their child or children are being bullied or mistreated. Thanks again Katrina!

Impact Story: Karsyn Bryant

June 6, 2022
Katrina has been, and continues to be an amazing source of strength, education, passion, and advocacy not only for my family but for many other local families. The work that she is doing is miraculous and the education she provides is going to equip so many families to not only know but be confident in their own and their child’s rights walking into any meeting regarding that child and their education. Many districts are labeled as “great” and “the best” for special education but through my own personal education and experiences I’ve learned that being great doesn’t mean that they are doing anything close to enough for children in the special education programs and beyond.  Katrina will continue to leave an enormous impact on our community and surrounding communities that will create a domino effect of educated and empowered caregivers who won’t allow systems and limits to be placed on their children, no matter what their current state seems to be. Jenna Keller: Perfectly said Karsyn! Katrina Roberts, I owe you a huge amount of gratitude for the education but also for your kindness, care, and willingness to give back.

Impact Story: Terra Patient

June 6, 2022
When I was at the end of my rope trying to balance caring for my dying mother and getting my brilliant child the love, positive attention, and accommodations he deserved at school…it was Katrina Roberts who stepped in and made our dreams a reality. He is a different kid because of the help she provided, and she was the answer to my prayers in a big way.

Impact Story: Matt and Tori

May 14, 2022
Without consultation and assistance from Katrina Roberts, our son would not have received an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Our story starts when he was in kindergarten. Having a parent that is dyslexic with other family members dyslexic also, we suspected he had dyslexia or some learning/processing issue. We asked his teacher what her opinion was, and she said nothing was wrong. In 1st - 3rd grades, some of his issues were noticed and the school's social worker was ready to put him on an IEP, but the principal talked us out of it!!! He said, "I don't think he needs one, let's just get him some more help". That was lie #1 Of course, being that this was our first child in school we had no idea what an IEP was. That manipulation haunts us to this day. Our son received increased services such as working with a speech therapist and a reading specialist which did help. In grades 3-5 we screamed for help and the district told us “Dyslexia” doesn't qualify him for any programs" which was lie #2. Moreover, the district didn't tell us what would qualify him for either an IEP or a 504. Eventually we were told "get an ADHD diagnosis" which we did and without medical intervention he was given more accommodations. In middle school, things deteriorated drastically. That is when we learned that we should try for an IEP but didn't know "how to play the game" and the district sure wasn't going to help us out. We were told his standardized testing was too high for him to qualify, we were told that even with "Other-Health Impairment" there was no way he would qualify. By now that was at least lie #100. There is so much more I could detail about the journey but suffice it to say the school district systematically denied our son and IEP for years. Then, we met Katrina... After meeting with Katrina, she put us on a plan of action educating us on "how to play the game". We were informed of our rights and that she could sit in on our IEP meeting as an advocate. (Side note: in our school district she has some clout having battled with them before). Freshman year, after all the struggles and thousands of dollars spent of our own money, it took one meeting where we knew what to ask for and how to ask for it, with Katrina present, and miraculously our son was put on an IEP. Funny note, the high school social worker must not have gotten the note from the district when she said after evaluating our son "Oh yeah, he definitely needs and qualifies for an IEP". Now, how is it all of a sudden, he qualifies when he has had the same struggles all his life? We can't thank Katrina enough for her guidance and inspiration. Sincerely,  Matt and Tori
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