In the past, Fayette County Schools’ Exceptional Children’s Department hasn’t had an outstanding need for surrogate parents, said Rosie Gwin, exceptional children’s services coordinator.

They’ve been able to fill the gap when needed, but have seen a increase in the number of children who require them over the last three of four years.

“I think most people don’t even know the need exists and secondly, they might be concerned that it would be a huge time commitment and really, it’s not,” Ms. Gwin said.

Surrogate parents help oversee the special education portion of a child’s education when his or her parents cannot be identified or located, participating in the child’s annual individualized education program meeting and providing consent for evaluation or placement.

Surrogates might have to meet throughout the year if concerns arise, and receive reports of the student’s progress.

“There are different levels of access when working with students,” Ms. Gwin said.

Ms. Gwin said surrogate parents have been a requirement for several years. About 10 to 12 people are trained to serve as surrogates, although not all of them are currently acting as surrogates. But they can always use more.

“We have some really kind people on our list who will come on in, even if they’re kind of overwhelmed at the time, they’re able to make time to do it,” Ms. Gwin said.

Allison Stevenson, a parent mentor for Fayette County Schools whose son is a special education student at Whitewater High School, helps Ms. Gwin coordinate monthly trainings for surrogate parents.

“I really think acting as a surrogate parent is a great opportunity to serve a child when they don’t really have a voice of their own,” Ms. Stevenson said. “The children need to be represented.”

Employees of Fayette County Schools and the Department of Family and Children’s Services cannot serve as surrogates.

“It has to be someone independent of those organizations,” Ms. Gwin said.

Foster parents and retired teachers typically make up the list, but anyone who is interested is welcome to participate in training.

Trainings are held as often as needed, depending on the number of people interested.

Information: Allison Stevenson, (770) 460-3911, ext. 239 or stevenson.allison@mail.fcboe.org.