Support For Families of Children With Disabilities
Rating: 4.93 stars 71 71 reviews 4,004
Address:
1663 Mission Street 7th Floor San Francisco CA 94103 USA
Mission:
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.
Results:
Support for Families services impact large numbers of children and families. Last year alone:• Family Resource Specialists provided individualized information and support to 778 families and 262 professionals, making more than 5,800 phone, e-mail or in-person contacts. • Support for Families provided 602 workshops, trainings, and clinics on a wide variety of topics based on needs expressed by families. Attendance totaled more than 3,500 parents and professionals. • 149 active volunteer Parent Mentor volunteers provided individualized assistance and outreach in English and Spanish. • More than 380 other volunteers contributed 3,400 hours of services. • 283 (unduplicated) family members and professionals attended one of the 21 Support Groups active last year. 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 Support for Families helped them feel less isolated, helped them become better advocates for their child, and helped their child receive more appropriate services.
Target demographics:
families who have a child with any kind of special need or who have concerns about their child; we also help professionals who work with children and families.
Direct beneficiaries per year:
thousands of families and professionals throughout San Francisco. 700-800 families benefit from individual assistance each year; 3,000 families and professionals attend our workshops, trainings, and clinics.
Geographic areas served:
San Francisco
Programs:
a phone line, drop-in resource center, resource library, toy loan, quarterly newsletter, support groups, parent mentors, workshops and trainings, case management, short-term counseling and referral, Assistive Technology resources, 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 700 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.
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Reviews for Support For Families of Children With Disabilities
Before nonprofit i was hopeless. I could not help my son to function with his disability without the knowledge of how to help him. I was very grateful when i apply and got assistant from nonprofit to go for training at the Option Institute to learn how to take care of my Autistic son. I am very thankful. Helping me to attend this training has change my life for a promising future and hope for my son and for this I thank you so much with all my heart.
Regards
Keisha
I find out when my daughter was 5 she had a hearing problem and today she is 17 and has to wear hearing aids.
3 people found this review helpful
Support for Families is there to help parents every step of the way as they learn to support their children with special needs.
2 people found this review helpful
SFCD has supports for a very wide range of families and professionals who work with children who have challenges( ie Autism, ADD, ADHD, Intellectual impairments, Traumatic Brain Injury, Orthopedic Impairments, among others). The range of services is also vast. From parent mentors, to support groups, to books and pamphlets, to ra resource fair, to a library of resources to events and movie nights for clients and their kids, to child care for workshops. SFCD is a wonderful support and resource to families with children who have disabilities to those who support and teach them!
3 people found this review helpful
I love the way SFCD cares about each and every child/adult/family that needs support around someone with a disability. i love their focus on love, support and education. There is no disability that gets more support than another. The range of disabilities supported is amazing. From the most mild to the most severe, every person who comed to SFCD with a need for support, referrals, or education is given the utmost care and respect.
2 people found this review helpful
I am all a client, a volunteer and a Board member at Support for Families. It is a wonderful organization that helps hundreds of families in the Bay Area each year. All of services to support families of children with disabilities are provided free of charge, most in multiple languages. Support for Families offers information, training, support, social events for this under-served population.
1 person found this review helpful
I am a client served, a volunteer and a Board member at Support for Families. As a client, I have benefited so much from the organization which has greatly helped me raise a child with disabilities. I have attended support groups, I have received extensive trainings, our family has attended social events that make life a bit more inclusive for all of our family.
As I volunteer, I have become a parent mentor and helped countless families. The training program made me feel more informed and empowered both to help our family and also to help other families.
As a Board member, I feel so proud as the organization grows every day, reaching new families, training and empowering families. All the staff, mostly parents of children with disabilities themselves, are so committed to the organization, so understanding of what other families fell and so ready to help.
More Feedback
Will you volunteer or donate to this organization beyond what is required of board members?
Definitely
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
Will you tell others about this organization?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2014
2 people found this review helpful
Given that there are so many non-profit organizations out there, I can not begin to tell you how genuinely and truest to their name is Support For Families of Children With Disabilities. Words can not even begin to describe the level of services, supports, and commitments the organization has to the families of these precious children with life and educational challenges. Aside from the free educational workshops, daycare, and programs at the center, Support for Families empowers the parents to be strong advocates for their own children in educational setting and medical services. They empowers the parents to make changes at the State level to laws that need to give voices to our children for the services that they need to be functional and contributive members of society to the best of their ability. They empowers the parents to be educators, leaders, and role models in times when as parents we feel helpless, unsure, ...weak because of the myriad of challenges in raising our own children with disabilities. Support For Families of Children With Disabilities is a non-profit that holds true to their identity. For that, we are deeply greatful.
S.P.
1 person found this review helpful
Great resource for children and adults with special needs. They have free training with a variety of subjects like behavior training, conservatorship, how to do IEP, alternative strategies, etc. They even provide childcare. They have bilingual staff who speaks Spanish and Cantonese. They coordinate events like picnics, movies, and annual ice skating to mainstream special needs children.
1 person found this review helpful
Support for Families had a rep, Mr. Lockett come down and provide assistance and support at my son's IEP meeting. We really appreciated their support as we felt our son's IEP was not being followed and our son was not receiving the support he needed. They are very instrumental in providing info, support and constant workshops that help families that require that extra support with children with different needs. I acknowledge them to be a crucial asset in the community!
1 person found this review helpful
Support For Families of Children with Disabilities has been an essential support for our family ever since our daughter was diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder when she was 3 months old. She is now 25 and Support For Families has provided guidance and support when we needed vital information about schools, doctors and state agencies. Now that our daughter is out of school we are very grateful that they are sponsoring an AAC conversation club for young adults who use computer devices to communicate. This is a great learning and social opportunity for our daughter who is not eligible for any adult day programs. We never know what challenges each new day will bring but we are very thankful that Support For Families has always been there for us.
1 person found this review helpful
Support for Families' excellent staff provide personal, on-point support and resources to help families navigate the challenges of caring for and parenting a child with disabilities.
