Family Support Network - Southeastern NC

Facts for 2004-2005

In 2004-2005, FSN-SENC provided a range of services.  These included matching FSN-SENC representatives to parents in need of support for their special needs child, or their family. These services also include sponsoring and mentoring support groups.  FSN-SENC supports many initiatives throughout the year in conjunction with other foundations and organizations (for example, the New Hanover County School System).

MATCHES

The concept of "matching" is to provide a parent in need of support a person that has experienced a similar situation to guide them, help them and support them.  Some parents request to be matched to a staff member or a trained support parent who has a child with the same or similar disability.  This is one way to get emotional support from a parent who has been in a similar situation.  In 2005 FSN-SENC made 208 parent/staff matches.  This means:

• An FSN-SENC representative met 4 or more times with the same parent.  This is 208 different parents we served (not counting educational advocacy services).
• We trained 26 people with Support Parent Training.  15 are currently available to be matched.
• We have 1 annual Support Parent Training session.

SUPPORT GROUPS

FSN-SENC provides a weekly support group for parents whose baby is medically fragile at New Hanover Regional Medical Center.  We also help parent-led support groups in their beginning stages, such as ATTACH Wilmington.

• 2 Basic Training workshops, and 
• 1 Surrogate Parent Training.

In conjunction with the New Hanover County School system, put on the annual Coming Together Conference, attended by over 400 professionals and parents.

FSN-SENC also is committed to creating awareness for our services and other services for special needs children and their families.  In 2005, FSN-SENC

• distributed 7,370 newsletters, and over 208 brochures,
• had 632 contacts with parents for educational advocacy assistance, and
• attended 105 IEP meetings with parents.

Survey Results from Training attendees   (598 responses)

Number of respondants that thought this statement was true:
"I learned new information about the topic during training"	93%
"I feel more confident about caring for the child in my care"	87%
"I will use the information I learned to care for this child"	91%
"This presenter was knowledgeable and communicated well"	94%
"I would recommend this training to others"	92%

Based on the returned evaluations from both training and support groups (674 responses), we provided services to, we discovered that 86% parents/professionals were female.