Summer 2002 Table of Contents
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Does Your Child Have a Special Need? Then So Do You!

Texas Parent to Parent is a nonprofit organization that was created by parents to provide support and information for families of children with disabilities, chronic illness and other special needs throughout the state of Texas. The majority of our Board of Directors and staff are parents of children with disabilities or chronic illness. Our staff and volunteers have many years’ experience in providing parent to parent support.

Mission

Texas Parent to Parent empowers families to be advocates for their children with disabilities, chronic illness, and other special needs through peer support, resource referral, and public awareness.

We believe that peer support is the best way to assist a family on the journey of raising a child with special needs. The sharing of joy, frustration and hope is one of the most powerful experiences a parent can receive. We also believe that parents are the experts on their child, and that the children are our best teachers.

Our Goals Are

To increase the confidence, emotional stability and skills of families by providing peer support and ongoing opportunities for specific information and training
To provide a place where families can get answers to specific questions about issues related to their child
To increase families’ knowledge and access to resources
To decrease stress and isolation for families of children with disabilities, chronic illness or other special needs
To help families find or create resources for support in their own community
To enhance the education and understanding of the professionals presently working with or preparing to work with families and their children so that they can be sensitive to the stresses faced by these families

We provide the following services:

Matching new parents to trained volunteer parents who have children with similar disabilities or issues via email and telephone.
Providing resource information via website resource directory or in writing to provide families with statewide and local resources. These resources include long-term financial help, therapy centers, parent support groups, etc.
Providing a forum via email or telephone for families to get answers to specific questions about issues related to their child such as special education services, insurance issues, sibling issues, etc.
Providing fact sheets and quarterly newsletters to new families via email or in writing. Information provided will include information on specific disabilities, care for the caregiver, special education law, insurance issues, respite care, applicable websites, etc.
Training volunteer parents in active listening, local resources, the stresses and the stages that new parents experience, etc. via email and/or face-to-face meetings.
Providing information and support to the trained volunteer families via email or in writing in the form of quarterly newsletters. Information provided will include the benefits of parent-to-parent support, special education law, active listening skills, etc.
Providing opportunities for professionals to learn from experienced trained parents about the stresses faced by families through educational and informational seminars and programs.
Providing technical support to families or parent groups for creating support systems within their community.
Collaborating with other Texas statewide programs to provide an annual statewide disability conference for parents.
Implementing the Directive of Critical Care (DOCC) Program, which is a medical residency program that matches families to medical residents. (Texas Parent to Parent is currently seeking families that are interested in allowing residents to spend a day with them, serving on parent panels, and/or participating in a private interview with a resident.)

We are affiliated with other statewide parent to parent programs through the University of Kansas’ Beach Center. We share information, best practices, and find matches for families that their individual state is unable to match. We share and learn from each other how best to provide support to families.

For more information, please contact Texas Parent to Parent at 3710 Cedar St., Box 12, Austin, TX 78705, (866) 896-6001, (512) 458-8600, or www.main.org/txp2p.

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Last Revision: August 27, 2003