MFAW Guidebook
Family Partnership Program
The Family Partnership Program strives to enhance the lives of individuals and families impacted by special health care needs, providing resources and information to empower families to live a good life.
The Family Partnership Program hosts regional and statewide events to benefit families through development of leadership skills, networking among peers and staying current with trends and issues regarding special health care needs.
The Family Partnership Program serves individuals with special health care needs as well as their parents, family members, and legal guardians. The Family Partnership Program employs individuals known as Family Partners who are parents of individuals with special health care needs. In addition to providing information and resources to individuals, the Family Partners plan, schedule, and facilitate the Family Partnership Program meetings.
The goals of the Family Partnership Program are to:
- Provide families the opportunity to offer each other support and information.
- Give families the opportunity to provide SHCN input on the needs of individuals with special health care needs.
- Build public and community awareness of the unique needs and issues facing families of individuals with special health care needs.
SCs shall provide Family Partnership information to all participants upon initial enrollment and encourage participation in the Family Partnership Program. When appropriate, the SC will make referrals to the designated Family Partner to assist participant, parent(s), and/or responsible party(ies) requesting peer support, mentoring and/or resource information. The SC will complete a Family Partnership Internal Referral Form and email it to the Family Partner, the RC, and the Family Partner supervisor.