Resources for Parents of Children with Special Needs

Parents Helping Parents

Learning that your child has a disability can be a traumatic experience. Parents have many questions and concerns in coping with their child’s needs and their own feelings. Emotional support from another parent, who has a child with similar needs, can be helpful in coping with these challenging experiences and feelings

Parent to Parent provides an opportunity for parents of children with developmental disabilities and special health care needs to gain confidence and knowledge by sharing experiences with other parents who have made adjustments to life with their own child. The program strives to empower parents through workshops or support groups, resources and information. With one to one peer support, parents realize they are not alone.

Parents and Professionals Working Together

In 1978, a group of concerned parents of children with various special needs and the professionals working with these children met to discuss the problems parents face when first informed of their child's disability. The group recognized that while there were numerous services available to treat the child's needs, there was no one service to assist the family in adjusting to the extra demands of a child with a handicap. In 1980, the Parent to Parent Support Program was launched under the auspices of The Arc King County to address the unmet needs of parents newly informed of their child's condition.

Support Through Sharing

At the core of the Parent to Parent Support Program is a group of parents with unique and valuable skills who are available to provide information and empathic support to parents of a child newly diagnosed as having a special need or experiencing a crisis around their child's disability. These volunteer helping parents have asked many of the same questions which new parents of children with disabilities ask. They understand feelings of shock, grief and helplessness which may need to be shared. Helping Parents hope to make the experience of having a child with a disability a little easier and less isolating by offering understanding support. They are not counselors or therapists. They work in cooperation with other support systems. Helping Parents seek to add to the parent's experiences the richness of an empathetic, sensitive, and skilled listener who can offer friendship and shared experience. A professional program staff provides additional support and guidance both to new parents and to the helping parents.

Support Services to Professionals

The Parent to Parent Support Program serves as a valuable resource to health care personnel and other professionals by giving emotional support to parents at the time of diagnosis of a disability and throughout the initial years of the disabling condition. The program offers speakers and information to professionals who work with these families to increase understanding of the needs of parents of children with disabilities and to introduce services provided by the Parent to Parent Support Program.

Referrals to the Program

Referrals are made by nurses, physicians, other professionals, friends, and parents themselves. When a family is referred to Parent to Parent Support, the program coordinator works with the parents to determine their concerns and to assess how the program can be most helpful. A match is made with a Helping Parent whom it is felt can best meet the needs of the parent. A parent requesting Parent to Parent Support will be contacted by a Helping Parent as soon as possible after the initial request. All matches are carefully supervised by the program's coordinator. Professional services, such as medical care and counseling, are not provided through the program.

Becoming a Helping Parent

Our volunteer helping parents are an essential part of Parent to Parent Support. Parents of children with disabilities who express an interest in becoming Helping Parents complete training in understanding the emotional response to having a child with a disability, interpersonal communication and listening skills, as well as community resources and referral procedures. Upon completion of the training, an overall evaluation is made to determine the best ways to use each individual's valuable expertise and dedication in providing support. To apply, contact the Parent to Parent Coordinator.

A Free Service

Servces are provided free of charge. Parent to Parent Support is a service offered by The Arc of King County, an organization for people with developmental disabilities and their families.  

Contact Information:

Parent to Parent of King County Coordinators: 

Jodi Reimer and Angela Dawson
(206) 364-4645 ext. 7042 FAX: (206) 364-8140; 
email p2p@arcofkingcounty.org or send a message to Parent to Parent Support

Parent to Parent Support Newsletters  (Acrobat Required)

Mailing Lists Hosted by Parent to Parent Support of King County
http://www.arcofkingcounty.org/programs/p2p/maillists

Parent to Parent of Washington State: 1-800-821-5927

Other Parent to Parent Support groups in Washington State