"Strong Families make Strong Communities!"

Who We Are and What We Do

The Family Network is a non-profit charitable organization comprised primarily of parents with children who have special needs. We seek to inspire and empower our community to understand and embrace true integration of families, by providing accessible support and resources for these individuals and their families to achieve their aspirations.

 

Our Programs

Summer Experience - a summer program that promotes the inclusion of children with special needs into any existing recreational program across Chatham-Kent.

Kids Kamp Too! - A summer day camp inclusive of all school aged children.

 

These programs also provide a service to the broader community; they learn more about special needs related issues and building stronger bonds of community and support for families with exceptional needs.

 

Services & Resources

Training Workshops: We offer various educational workshops throughout the year for parents & professionals.

Support Worker Directory:A directory of support workers throughout Chatham-Kent is available for families to access when searching for an in-home worker.

Parent to Parent LinksWe connect parents to a resource parent mentor who has also had similar life experiences and can now offer their understanding, expertise, and support to others.

Resource Room/Library:A resource room complete with information about specific disorders, videos, a photocopy machine, a computer with specialized picture-communication software, use of a fax machine, as well as directories of community and provincial resources.

 

Publications

Specialized Newsletters / Information Booklets
Semi-annual Newsletters
Summer Recreation Guide We compile a free local guide of summer programs inclusive of children with disabilities

Books - Click on link for a full listing of book titles, description and price

Assisting Families

Support services we provide include:

- helping families to find, interview, train, schedule, and evaluate in-home support staff.
- helping families to access various resources:

- information regarding community and provincial resources from Ministries and agencies serving the special needs community
- information and best practice strategies for specific disorders
- human resources: in-home workers, mentors, and individuals who may be able to help them in a variety of manners

- researching, compiling, and developing resources with our community partners and other groups
- assisting families with school related issues
- assisting families with accessing needed funding
- assisting families with meetings (ie. accompanying them, providing support, speaking on their behalf, facilitating meetings)
- helping to identify when case conferences are required as well as helping to organize conferences
- offering referrals
- assisting the families to determine their own short and long term goals.
- training, educating, and empowering families (ie. by means of their participation in and assistance with the - development of training workshops)
- following up our initial contact with families to ensure goals have been met and/or services have been provided
- providing emotional support
- developing a volunteer base to help link parents to other parents to share ideas and for the purpose of mentoring.