In spite of the growing awareness and development of respite services, many families in need of them have little or no access. This is especially true for families whose children have emotional handicaps. A rationale for respite services supports parents' entitlement to respite care, its importance to all family members, and its help in improving…

This report describes the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver to section 1915 (c) of the Federal Social Security Act that was obtained by the New York State Office of Mental Health. The HCBS Waiver affects the services provided to children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances. Three statutory requirements are included in…

The Family to Family program provides relief to families with emotionally impaired children through regular out-of-home respite care with host families. The overall goal of the program is to keep families with seriously emotionally impaired children intact, thus avoiding out-of-home placement. The program therefore involves, in addition to…

This evaluation report of the Family to Family Program assesses parental attitudes towards their Family to Family experience and the functioning of their emotionally impaired children. Topics include administration and administrative support; recruitment of consumer families; identification of host families; consumer support services; and consumer…

This evaluation report of the Family to Family Program assesses parental attitudes towards their Family to Family experience and the functioning of their emotionally impaired children. It reviews issues of goal achievement; the impact on the targeted problem; service population demographics; and sustainability. Related topics include…

Describes the founding, organization, and support services of the Oregon Family Support Network. Using volunteers, the network provides support and information to families whose children are severely emotionally or behaviorally disturbed. Services include emotional support, technical assistance, networking, information, community forums, parent…

This monograph describes Families First, a family-designed system of mental health care for children in Essex County, New York. Philosophical principles of family-driven service delivery are outlined and illustrated with comments from participants. The planning that went into developing the Families First program is described, including initial…

This paper profiles nine model programs for supporting families who care for a child with a severe illness or one or more disabilities and discusses current trends as they emerged from interviews with key persons in the field. Core components examined include self-help, advocacy, parent education, respite care, family-centered case management, and…