Family Provider Support

Strengthening Family Support Services and Professional Parent Partnerships in our Agencies

This section of the website has been designed to assist families and family support professionals by sharing materials, resources and information to strengthen family support services and professional parent partnerships in children’s behavioral health agencies. If have information to share, please contact jackienegrillc@gmail.com

Formalizing the Role of Families

Background
In the Coalition’s 2003 Strategic Plan (dated 9/18/03), it was stated that “Providers must understand and convey the message that families are an integral component of the team, not only in the treatment for an individual child/family, but on the provider team (parent reps on boards) and the policy team (parents influencing public policy decisions). In so doing, new partnerships, training, and outreach efforts must be implemented……The participants also agreed to support training to better educate stakeholders on the family’s role.”

With the Strategic Plan’s implementation in mind, we identified a linkage between family involvement on the treatment team and the policy team. This link relates to policy/program oversight. We believe that this role is as necessary as participation on the treatment team and is an integral element in policy making on the board level.

This resolution reflects the belief of all member agencies of the Coalition that family members of the children we serve should be integrally involved in both the treatment planning and policy/program oversight that guides the quality of services that member agencies provide.

In the interest of enhancing the policy development/program oversight involvement of family members, the Coalition hereby resolves to establish a guideline that encourages each member to identify structural opportunities for family involvement.

Be it resolved that family members be included on a committee or into some existing structure of each agency that has oversight responsibility and/or policy making responsibility for programs that serve the needs of seriously emotionally disturbed children and their families.

Be it further resolved that each Coalition member agency provide a range of supports to maximize the involvement and contributions of family members and to assure that their participation is felt to be valuable to the agency. 1

In implementing any plan, agency members need to be particularly conscious of potential issues of tokenism, family member’s self-consciousness and sense of isolation, unfamiliar terms and professional “argot”, confidentiality and privacy.

The Coalition agrees to hear a report on efforts by the members in this area by the fall of 2004.

Examples of supports could include: transportation, child care, training/skill building of family members, training/preparation of other participants with whom family members will be interacting, ongoing structured participation encouragement (e.g. family members’ peer advisory group).

NYC Family Support Network

Family Resource Centers:

FRC of Northern Bronx – MHA of NYC (Zone 1)
2488 Grand Concourse, Suite 403
Bronx, NY 10458
Program Director: Wanda Greene
Phone: 718-220-0456, Ext. 226
Email: wgreene@mhaofnyc.org

FRC of Southern Bronx – MHA of NYC (Zone 2)
2488 Grand Concourse, Suite 403
Bronx, NY 10458
Program Director: Yvette Pena
Phone: 718-220-0456, Ext. 224
Email: ypena@mhaofnyc.org

FRC of Northern Manhattan – MHA of NYC (Zone 3)
2 West 125th Street, Lower Level (moving)
New York, NY 10027
Program Director: Olga Vazquez
Phone: 212-410-1820
Email: ovazquez@mhaofnyc.org

FRC of Southern Manhattan – MHA of NYC (Zone 4)
50 Broadway, 19th Floor
New York, NY 1004
Program Director: Janet Rosa
Phone: 212-964-5253, Ext. 353
Email: jrosa@mhaofnyc.org

FRC of Western Queens – MHA of NYC (Zone 5)
87-08 Justice Avenue, Suite C-14
Elmhurst, NY 11373
Program Director: Lorraine Jacobs
Phone: 718- 651-1960 ext 225
Email: ljacobs@mhaofnyc.org

FRC of Eastern Queens – St. John’s Episcopal (Zone 6)
115-04 Rockaway Beach Blvd.
Rockaway Park, NY 11694
Program Director: Kathy Gardini
Phone: 718-474-2070
Email: kgardini@ehs.org

Brooklyn Zone 7 – ICL
2581 Atlantic Ave. – 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11207
Program Director: Terri Johnson
Phone: 718-290-8100, Ext. 4145
Email: tjohnson@iclinc.net

Brooklyn Zone 8 – JCCA
3003 Avenue H
Brooklyn, NY 11210
Program Director: Denise Stephenson
Phone: 718-859-4500
Email: stephensonD@jccanyc.org

Staten Island FRC – Jewish Board of Family & Children Services (Zone 9)
2795 Richmond Ave
Staten Island, NY 10314
Program Director: Deborah Miller
Phone: 718-698-5307, Ext. 283
Email: dmiller@jbfcs.org

Family Support Liaison Center

NAMI – NYC
505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1103
New York, NY 10018
Program Director: Mary Lee Gupta
Phone: 212-684-3365, Ext. 204
Email: volunteer@naminyc.org