During our stay at Chapel Hill we got the great opportunity to gain profound and highly valuable insight into the work of the Family Support Network of North Carolina (FSNNC). One of our instructors, who is the director of this network, and her very kind team members made it possible for us to attend several meetings of the Network and also to visit two of its local programs.
The Family Support Network of North Carolina is a statewide network of affiliated local programs, which provide support for families with children who have special needs.
Since 1985 FSNNC promotes the involvement of family members in the development and implementation of family-centered practices in North Carolina. Furthermore, it provides parents and professionals with information and linkage for services and support. FSNNC operates the Central Directory of Resources (CDR), which is a computerized directory of resources and services for children with special needs: http://fsp.unc.edu/referral/parents. Furthermore, FSNNC supports the development of a statewide network of community-based parent-to-parent programs.
These local programs offer a variety of services and activities:
- Parent-to-Parent support
- Information and referral
- Sibling workshops
- Support groups
- Workshops and training for families and service providers
All services are confidential and free of charge.
It was extremely interesting and beneficial for us to come to know the Parent-to-Parent support. Parents seeking information, resources and support are connected with experienced and trained Support Parents who have had similar family and disability experiences. Through these one to one matches the Support Parents provide emotional support to families and assist them in finding information and resources.
The FSNNC local program affiliates facilitate parent "matches" and provide follow-up support to each match. Moreover, they provide Support Parent Training using an established curriculum. The training includes for example an introduction to Parent-to-Parent support and its effectiveness. Communication skills and understanding confidentiality are other important aspects of the curriculum.
The Family Support Network of North Carolina is a member of Parent-to-Parent USA Alliance. Parent-to-Parent USA is a national organization of state Parent-to-Parent programs. Visit the Parent-to-Parent USA (P2PUSA) website: http://www.p2pusa.org/
Another very important service of the FSNNC is the provision of information and referrals. Families get help in finding information as well as services and get connected with resources in their community. They also get the possibility to learn more about the disability or diagnosis of their child.
The FSNNC conducts comprehensive research and evaluation to determine the impact of program activities and to provide guidance in strengthening program effectiveness. We are very grateful that one of the responsible Network team members provided us insight into this field, especially the different outcome and output measures. Furthermore, she explained us the structure of the Network as well as the funding mechanisms. We profit a lot from her explications and really appreciate that she answered all our questions patiently and in great detail.
By attending the Network Development Council Meeting and the Meeting of the Local Programs’ Coordinators we got to know more about the organization and activities of the FSNCC as well as the current issues that impact the Network as well as the local programs. Each of the FSNNC members welcomed us warmly and shared their personal experiences with us.
In addition to that, we got to know the FSNNC’s projects Strengthening Military Families, which especially addresses the needs of military families. You will find more information about this very interesting project in one of our next posts.
Furthermore, we are really looking forward to visiting the Family Support Network of Eastern NC (Greenville) in December.
We are very thankful to have the great opportunity to learn more about the FSNNC, which provides a unique and valuable service for families with children who have special needs.
Our recommendation: Visit the new website of the Family Support Network of North Carolina
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