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911 Emergency - Inform Philadelphia Police Radio about your disability needs in the event of an emergency.
ARC Disability Resource -Disability-Related Sites on the World Wide WebThese disability related sites provide information on a variety of topics including specific mental retardation conditions, transition from school to adult living, support for community living, assistive technology and more.
Autism Society of Great Philadelphia sponsors a website, newsletter, support/information groups, on-line support, resources, medical and research news, advocacy, conference; affiliated with the Autism Society of America. www.asaphilly.org
Sibling Support Project - a national program providing support to brothers and sisters of people with special health and developmental needs. The project provides trainings for starting a local Sibshop, workshops for family, and free listservs for brothers and sisters both kids (SibKids) and adults (Sibgroup).
Child Assist Network - The Child Assist Network is an information and referral service that matches children and adolescents with the providers that can best meet their needs for mental health and human services. Call them for help in locating counseling services, child welfare, parent support groups, parent education workshops, and developmental and psychological services. Telephone: 800-359-0800
Connect Direction Service - Connect Direction Service provides information to parents with concerns regarding a child's development. Connect is a clearinghouse of information and a list of materials can be obtained by calling the 800 number. Children, ages birth through two years old can be referred to their early intervention agency by an electronic mail system. Telephone: 800-692-7288
Down Syndrome Support - Information and support for individuals with Down Syndrome including a weekly Internet Chat session.
Family Friends Center for Intergenerational Learning – This program provides in-home support and companionship to children with special needs and their families. The volunteers are 55 and older and are matched with children age 12 and younger. The volunteers are carefully screened and trained and visit the child and family once a week for about two hours. Parents may use this time to take a nap, run errands or talk to the volunteers themselves.
Contact info: Temple University - USB 206, 1601 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19122 215-204-3196
Family Driven Support Services (FDSS) - A method of providing services and supports where the family members and person with mental retardation, rather than the service system have the primary responsibility for deciding which services will best address the family’s specific needs.
Health and Development – Help with medical needs, health services and therapies such as Occupational or Physical therapies.
Michael Smull - Essential Lifestyles Planning - As service systems increasingly embrace the principles and practices of self-determination and individual funding, people are looking at how to change from the old to the new. Michael has been one of the pioneers of this work. His Essential Lifestyles Planning is widely recognized and appreciated as a tool "for learning how people want to live, to learn what is important to them in everyday life and to discover how they might want to live in the future. But, a plan is not an outcome. The only reason to do the planning is to help people move toward the life that they want and person centered planning is only the first part of the process. Whether anyone can get the life described is also determined by their access to resources and the rules for using those resources." See his easily understandable articles about moving to the future
PA-CARES: Pennsylvania Caregivers - a group of Pennsylvania family/friend/guardian caregivers of adults with developmental disabilities. This group provides a safe place to seek information for solving problems and for encouraging and supporting each other. PA-CARES share successes and pass along the latest alerts and bulletins from county, state and federal agencies whose policies affect our lives. If you are a PA family/friend/guardian caregiver, you may find this group helpful to you.
Parents Anonymous of Pennsylvania - offers free, weekly ongoing parenting support groups which provide support for parents from parents. Visit this page for more information and information about meetings.
Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania (P2P) - is a network created by families for families of children and adults with special needs. They connect families in similar situations with one another so that they may share experiences, offer practical information and/or support. They help match parents, foster parents, and adoptive parents of children and adults with special needs on a one-to-one basis according to their needs. All services are free and confidential. Telephone 800-986-4550
Summer Camps 2003
Special Kids Network - a free, statewide network for families, like yours, with children who have special needs or disabilities. This number will connect you to an information and referral specialist in one of six regional areas. They can help you get connected to a range of resources and supports services in your community. The Special Kids Network works closely with Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania which links parents of children with disabilities to other parents in similar situations. You can access all of their services through 800-986-4550 for voice or 877-986-5432 TTY.
Temple University Institute on Disabilities - Programs and services to support friends, family members, and individuals with disabilities as they live, work and play in the community. Telephone: 215-204-1356.
Vision For Equality - is an agency committed to people with disabilities and family members of people with disabilities. Vision For Equality can help you find an advocate or help you solve your health care problems.
UCP: Parenting and Families
Find more Resources under
Advocacy
Parent Support Organizations
National Resources
ARC, Philadelphia - The Arc of Philadelphia supports individuals with disabilities and family members through staff who are parents of offspring with mental retardation. The Arc provides: 1) Support for parents and referrals to early intervention programs for the newborn or preschool child with a developmental delay or who is at-risk for delay; 2) Aid to obtain appropriate public school programs for the school-aged child with special needs; 3) Help to the graduating young adult and his or her family with the transition from school to community-based services; 4) Reinforcement to individuals and families to deal with life’s on-going challenges; 5) Advocacy for system-wide issues, such as the Waiting List and 6) Education about mental retardation for the general public
Exceptional Parent - Exceptional Parent's Magazine online resource.
The National Parent Network on Disabilities (NPND) - provides support and a voice for all families of children, youth and adults with disabilities.
The National Coalition on Self Determination is a site for the national coalition of people with disabilities, parents, and family members who work to promote federal policies that support the five principles of Self-Determination: 1) Self-advocacy; 2) Freedom; 3) Authority; 4) Responsibility; and 5) Support. The Coalition also supports the Community Imperative, a declaration asserting the fundamental human right of all people, regardless of the severity of their disabilities, to community living.
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