Family2Family

The New Mexico Family to Family grantees, Parents Reaching Out, have put together over a dozen tips sheets. Topics include Advocating for Yourself, Teen Scene: Communication with Health Care Providers, Preparing for Doctors Visits, Waivers, Navigating Medicaid, SSI, Preventing Medical Errors, Transitioning Health Care, HIPAA, and FAQ sabot Mi Via and EPSDT. Also includes is a brochure called Telling Your Story, Tips for Sharing your Experiences. All the fact sheets are also available in Spanish.

When accessing health care for children there is another level of advocacy and information needed. Learning to advocate, learning to research and learning how to communicate with multiple systems are all skills to be acquired. Many times families are asked to “Put your request in writing”; for the parents of children with disabilities, there are even more reasons. The New York F2F grantee developed this booklet with hints, suggestions or models for families to use when writing letters.

The Parent to Parent of New York State– Family to Family Healthcare Information and Education Center developed a number of fact sheets in Spanish to assist the parents they serve. Fact Sheet titles include: HCBS Waiver Programs, Navigating Doctors Appointments, Searching the Internet for Medical Information, Medication Tips, Record Keeping Suggestions, Relieving Stress. They have also developed a 34 page Care Notebook where families can keep a complete record of a child’s medical history.

This Care Notebook is an organizing tool for families who have children with special health care needs. Utah created the book to help families keep track of important health care information, list providers and community organizations contact information, prepare for appointments and file and share health history. Utah Family Voices shared this guide so that other resource centers may use this as a template when developing a similar tool.

Provided by Family Voices of Wisconsin, this training is organized into two modules and designed to provide a comprehensive, primary overview of health care and community supports for children and youth. The overall goal of this initiative is to help families access services that will benefit their children. The goal is that one day, they won't hear parents say, \"Why didn't anybody tell me about this before?!\" Presentation slides and evaluations are included.

Review an example of how grantees can create informational brochure for families of children and youth with special health care needs. The outreach material explains the centers benefits including training, mentors, advocacy and listserv services. There are three versions, one in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Family to Family Grantee, the Indiana Parent Information Network, developed and shared two of their outreach tools. The poster and community resource cards are to be placed at physician’s offices and clinics. The posters were laminated so that local numbers could be added with dry erase. The cards also allow space to individualize the community resources being referred.

Parent to Parent and Family Voices are proud to announce the new Family to Family Health Information and Education Center called the Virginia Integrated Network of Family Organization or The VA-INFO Center. The center provides youth and parents of children with special needs, service providers and others one place to call to get information and referrals, parent to parent peer support, annual family support conference, and other training opportunities.

This paper describes the activities of the 19 Grantees funded in fiscal year 03 and 04 from CMS and six Grantees funded in fiscal year 02 by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). F2F Health Information Centers assist families of children with special health care needs. This paper provides information states and stakeholders will find useful when planning or implementing similar initiatives. Read about the grant activities, implementation challenges, and accomplishments.

This Care Coordination Notebook helps families manage the care and growth of their child as they are involved with the many professionals who offer assistance and expertise. This notebook is designed to offer families basic information and a framework to help you gather information and coordinate care for children with special health care needs. The guide includes basic informational overviews, sample letters, and Take Action Forms.