FAMILIES, POLICY MAKERS, AND SERVICE PROVIDERS who care for children and youth with mental health challenges are seeking strategies for successful outcomes. Finding the unique combination of treatment, services, and supports can be a struggle. One strategy is to provide family-to-family peer support, where families receive education, information, and the support of others who have similar experiences.

This issue brief describes the goals of family-to-family peer support and specifically addresses three areas:  

• Organizational models for the provision of family-to-family peer support.
• Provision of family-to-family support services, including training and certification of peer support providers.
• Measurement of outcomes.

F2F support has existed as a resource for families for over 25 years with an evolving body of evidence-building activities to demonstrate multi-pronged effectiveness.

An informative, new research brief by Emily Sanders, a senior Human Biology, Health and Society Major at Cornell University and Rachel Dunifon, an Associate Professor of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University, on Children of Incarcerated Parents. 

Fliers and posters were developed in English and Spanish, to inform parents who were or are currently incarcerated or in a residential substance abuse facility of their rights and responsibilities pertaining to their children in foster care. Local districts have the responsibility to share the information on the fliers with incarcerated parents or those in residential substance abuse with children in foster care. The posters are for use in the following New York State agencies: Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, and Office of Children and Family Services' Division of Juvenile Justice and Opportunity for Youth.   

Posters in English

Generic

Female

Male

Posters in Spanish

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Female

Male 

Grant Opportunity for Clinical Expenses, Durable Medical Goods, & Displacement Expenses for Seriously Ill Children

First Hand Foundation, 2800 Rockcreek Parkway, Kansas City, MO 64117

First Hand helps the families of children with health problems address the financial aspects of their child's healthcare:

Summary of Qualifying Characteristics:

• A child must be 18 years of age or younger;  
• A child must be under the care of a pediatrician;  
• A case must involve a child with a specific healthcare need;  
• The request must be clinically relevant to the health of the child;
• There must be no existing insurance coverage for the requested expenses;  
• One request per year, per child for a maximum of three times in a child's lifetime.

Generally, grants fall into one of 3 broad categories of assistance:

1.  Clinical Expenses: Expenses associated with clinical procedures and treatment, such as prescriptions, therapy, prostheses, specialized infant formula, organ transplants, craniofacial reconstruction, or dental work clinically relevant to the child's well-being and health.
2. Durable Medical Goods: Expenses such as wheelchairs, assistive technology equipment, specialized transportation, van lifts, and other forms of physical equipment that are clinically relevant to the child's well-being and health.
3. Displacement Expenses: Expenses associated with families of seriously ill children who must relocate during treatment. Displacement costs may be for either a member(s) of the family or the child. First Hand considers covering costs that allow the child to be with a family member(s) during treatment to be clinically relevant. In order to be considered for funding, the following criteria must be met.  

Requests for debt reduction of expenses already incurred will not be considered. There is an application to be completed and financial guidelines.  

Click here for more information 

Firsthandfoundation@cerner.com  

 (816) 201-1569