Texas Project FIRST (Region 9 ESC) – Family Supports – What are they? How do I access them?
******
Ability OnLine – This is “a friendly and safe computer friendship network where children and youth with disabilities or chronic illnesses connect to each other as well as to their friends, family members, caregivers and supporters.” It is a free service.
The Arc – See Information for Parents, Information for Siblings and Information for Friends.
Bandaides & Blackboards – A pediatric nurse designed this website “to sensitize people to what it’s like to grow up with a medical problem.” It features a collection of first-person stories and articles for kids, teens and adults.
Best Buddies – The website of Best Buddies, a non-profit organization whose programs establish one-to-one friendships between people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and college students, high school students, middle school students and members of the community.
Exceptional Parent Magazine – This is the online version of Exceptional Parent Magazine, “providing information, support, ideas, encouragement, and outreach for parents and families of children with disabilities and the professionals who work with them.”
Family to Family Network – This is the home page of Family to Family Network, whose mission is “to help families of children with disabilities by providing information, training, referral and support.”
Family Support Network – This is the website of the Family Support Network , an organization that helps families of children with disabilities in the Brazos Valley “to get the information, support, and skills needed to make informed decisions about their lives and those of their children, especially those decisions regarding special education.” FSN has a free newsletter available in both English and Spanish.
The Father’s Network – This is the website of The Father’s Network, whose “mission is to celebrate and support fathers and families raising children with special health care needs and developmental disabilities.” A great deal of the news and events covered on the site apply to Washington State. However, the site also includes articles written by Dads; web links; bulletin boards; and is available in both English and Spanish.
Navigate Life Texas – This website is especially for families and parents of children with disabilities or special health-care needs and is designed to offer support, inspiration, resources, and links to services available. Blog articles offer tips from parents and professionals about topics ranging from early childhood to planning for the future.
Sibling Leadership Network – “The purpose of the Sibling Leadership Network is to promote a broad network of siblings who share the experience of disability and people concerned with sibling issues by connecting them to social, emotional, governmental, and provisional supports across the lifespan enabling them to be effective advocates with their brother and sister, and to serve as change agents for themselves and their families.”
Texas Parent to Parent – This is the web site of Texas Parent to Parent, “a non-profit organization 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.”
Texas Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities (Wrightslaw) – This is a compilation of resources available to families of children with disabilities.
Uniting Parents – Uniting Parents serves families of children with disabilities in the upper 32 counties of the Texas Panhandle by providing information, education, training, referrals, networking and support.
Please submit any Links you feel would be appropriate using the SHARE YOUR SITES link.
