SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES Overview
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Target demographics: Support for Families serves families of children with any kind of disability or special health care need, and the professionals who work with them, in San Francisco.
Direct beneficiaries per year: Support for Families reaches families and professionals throughout San Francisco. 700-800 families benefit from individual assistance each year; 2,000 families and professionals benefit from our workshops, trainings, and clinics.
Geographic areas served: San Francisco
Programs: Support for Families offers a phone line, a drop-in resource center, resource library, toy loan, quarterly newsletter, support groups, parent mentors, workshops and trainings, mental health short-term counseling and referral, Assistive Technology resource information, and family social events. All services are free of charge. Assistance in English, Spanish, and Cantonese is available. We also offer information and educational services to professionals and actively collaborate with other organizations to help develop a more coordinated, family-friendly network of services for children and families. In a typical year more than 500 new families will receive intake consultations; thousands more receive help through support groups, workshops, our annual resource conference, the newsletter and website. We are based in San Francisco but also are part of collaborations that serve families throughout California.
The purpose of Support for Families is to ensure that families of children with any kind of disability or special health care need have the knowledge and support to make informed choices that enhance their children''s development and well being. Through fostering partnership among families, professionals and the community our children can flourish.
Mostof our staff members, volunteers, and board members are, themselves,family members of children with disabilities.
• Support for Families provided 396 workshops, trainings, and clinics in 2012 on a wide variety of topics based on needs expressed by families. Attendance totaled more than 2,600 parents and professionals.
• 101 active volunteer Parent Mentor volunteers provided individualized assistance and outreach.
• More than 400 other volunteers contributed 4,000 hours of services.
• 284 (unduplicated) family members and professionals attended one of the 18 Support Groups active in 2012.
Total attendance at our family events exceeded 1,000. They include holiday ice skating, Halloween party, Access to Adventure, museum days, and movie nights.
In follow-up surveys more than 90% of families consistently report that the information, education, or support they received from SFCD helped them feel less isolated, helped them become better advoactes for their child, and helped their child receive more appropriate services.
