HHS awards $4.9 million to support families of children with special health care needs

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced $4.9 million in new and continuing grants to support the Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, primarily non-profit organizations run by and for families with children with special health care needs. Funding for the centers was extended through 2012 by the Affordable Care Act.

Created in 2005, the centers are state-wide, family-led organizations that provide information, education, training, outreach, and peer support to families of children and youth with special health care needs and the professionals who serve them.

“In the last year, the work of these Family to Family Health Information Centers has had a real impact on the families, and community and state systems that serve them,” said Secretary Sebelius.  “After working with these Centers, more than 90 percent of the families surveyed,  reported they were helped in finding or navigating community services for their children with special health care needs.”

The Family-to-Family Health Information Centers are staffed by trained family leaders who have children with special health care needs, and expertise in navigating federal, state and local public and private health care systems. These Centers are also staffed by and/or linked with health professionals. HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) oversees the program.

“More than 900,000 families of children with special health care needs were served at Centers in the past year,” said HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N.  “And over 400,000 providers and other professionals were able to benefit from their services, making invaluable information regarding the needs of these children more widely available than ever before.”

Since the program’s inception, Family-to-Family Health Information Centers have served hundreds of thousands of families and health care providers.  Today’s funding will support 51 centers, of which six are newly HRSA-supported (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, and Oregon).  Each grant award is up to $95,700 per year.

Family-to Family Health Centers
Fiscal Year 2011 Competitive Awards

Organization	City	State
Raising Special Kids	Phoenix	Ariz.
Support for Families of Children w/ Disabilities	San Francisco	Calif.
Colorado Nonprofit Development Center	Denver	Colo.
PATH Parent to Parent/Family Voices of CT	Northford	Conn.
Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.	Washington	DC
Delaware Family Voices, Inc.	New Castle	Del.
Family Network on Disabilities of Florida, Inc.	Dunedin	Fla.
Parent to Parent of Georgia, Inc.	Atlanta	Ga.
Hawaii Pediatric Association Research & Education Foundation	Honolulu	Hawaii
The Arc of Illinois	Frankfort	Ill.
Family Voices Indiana	Granger	ind.
Families Together, Inc.	Wichita	Kan.
Bayou Land Families Helping Families	Thibodaux	La.
Federation for Children with Special Needs	Roxbury Crossing	Mass.
The Parent's Place of Maryland	Glen Burnie	Md.
Maine Parent Federation	Augusta	Maine
SEMHA PPA FCCYSHCN	Detroit	Mich.
PACER Center Inc.	Minneapolis	Minn.
Curators, University of Missouri	Kansas City	Mo.
University of Southern Mississippi	Hattiesburg	Miss.
Parents, Let's Unite for Kids	Billings	Mont.
Exceptional Children's Assistance Center	Davidson	N.C.
Family Voices of North Dakota, Inc	Edgeley	N.D.
PTI Nebraska	Omaha	Neb.
NH Coalition for Citizens w/Disabilities	Concord	N.H.
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey	Newark	N.J.
Parents Reaching Out to Help	Albuquerque	N.M.
Family TIES of Nevada, Inc	Reno	Nev.
Parent to Parent of NYS	Tupper Lake	N.Y.
The Oklahoma Family Network, Inc.	Oklahoma City	Okla.
Oregon Health and Science University	Portland	Ore.
Parent Education & Advocacy Leadership Center	Pittsburgh	Pa.
Rhode Island Parent Information Network, Inc.	Cranston	R.I.
South Dakota Parent Connection, Inc.	Sioux Falls	S.D.
Tennessee Disability Coalition	Nashville	Tenn.
Texas Parent to Parent	Austin	Texas
Utah Parent Center	Salt Lake City	Utah
Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond	Va.
Vermont Family Network	Williston	Vt.
Washington PAVE	Tacoma	Wash.
The Arc Wisconsin Disability Association	Madison	Wis.

Non-Competitive Awards

Organization	City	State
Stone Soup Group	Anchorage	Alaska
Family Voices of Alabama Inc.	Mobile	Ala.
Arkansas Disability Coalition	Little Rock	Ark.
The University of Iowa	Iowa City	Iowa
Idaho Parents Unlimited Inc.	Boise	Idaho
Comm for Children w/ Special Health Care Needs	Louisville	Ky.
Family Voices of Ohio	Columbus	Ohio
Family Connection of South Carolina, Inc.	Columbia	S.C.
West Virginia Parent Training and Information, Inc.	Clarksburg	W.Va.
Parents Helping Parents of Wyoming, Inc	Buffalo	Wyo.

For more information on the program, and other HRSA maternal and child health programs, visit http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/.  For additional information on the Affordable Care Act, visit http://www.healthcare.gov/index.html.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. For more information about HRSA and its programs, visit www.hrsa.gov.