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Home > parent to parent > Targeted parent assistance Targeted Parent AssistanceParent assistance at Keys for Networking, Inc. has been an evolving process for the fourteen years of the organization's existence. In the beginning, during the fledgling stage of the organization, parent assistance was done on a call to call basis in somewhat of a triage mode of operation. Keys staff responded to families on the basis of an immediate concern. When that need was met they were not heard from until the next need arose. While not totally ineffective, this approach lacked focus, failed to delineate outcomes (for either staff or families), and lacked any defined tracking mechanism. As the organization grew, the need for additional staff to provide parent assistance became critical. The need for that staff to be culturally diverse and trained for a uniform approach or process to be developed which included measurable outcomes for the families became apparent. The staff at Keys for Networking who provide parent assistance are hired based on several criteria. First, they must be parents themselves or at the very least family members of a child with severe emotional or behavior disorders or mental illness. The reasoning behind this is that we feel that these parents are uniquely qualified, because of their personal experience, to offer assistance to families like their own. We have found that these parents bring a mix of real-life experience, empathy, resilience, and determination. From this client-based hiring, we select from a culturally diverse mix of parents (African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Caucasian). We believe that many parents requiring assistance will only be comfortable with or trust a parent who is similar in experience, socio-economic background, or ethnicity. Keys for Networking has on its parent assistance staff two bi-lingual coordinators who speak fluent Spanish, two African-Americans, one Native American, and two Caucasian. Keys also has men and women who provide assistance and support. Staff who are hired to provide parent assistance receive 24 hours of formal training which includes 12 hours of Wraparound Facilitation training and 12 hours of Parent Support Specialist training consisting of: Understanding the Culture of a Family with a Child with Severe Emotional Disturbance, Positive Reinforcement vs Punishment, Negotiation Skills, Outcomes Development, Developing IDEA and/or 504 Educational Plans, and Crisis Planning. This training, coupled with the experience parents bring from their own families, provides them with a broad base of information to begin the work of assisting families. As a staff, parent support coordinators have the long range goal of empowering each family who calls Keys to become his/her own child/children's best advocate. Once initial problems which drew the family to Keys is resolved, we encourage the parent to begin to advocate for other parents who are struggling with the same issues. Dr. Barry Kibel has helped the Keys staff to define a process, called Outcome Engineering. Dr. Kibel's process is based on the premise that persons availing themselves of the resources of a human service organization embark upon a journey involving three stages:
Using Dr. Kibel's process, Keys staff have established targeted outcomes for families, moving them from needing help, struggling with service agencies to establishing their own skills and outreach on behalf of other families. In addition to supporting parents through problems and crises, Keys staff offer parents opportunities to participate in free trainings, link them with (with their permission) to other parents, invite them to serve on local and state committees, coalitions, and boards, and offer opportunities for them to testify on issues relevant to them before the Kansas legislature. Keys staff chart individual family journeys on a confidential information. Keys staff contact each family every 30 days to check on them. Experience has proven that this outreach and regular contact actually prevents crisis situations. These 30 day call backs serve a dual purpose for the families served by Keys for Networking. The first objective is to check in with the family to see how they are getting along following our involvement with their child's problem. This can serve as a preventive measure as our call gives the family a chance to discuss questions and secure information which may result in additional assistance before a situation becomes too serious. The second objective of the calls is to advertise free trainings sponsored by our organization which may enhance the parents' ability to handle their own child and may even enable them to learn skills which will allow them to assist other parents. Our parent assistance is called "targeted assistance" because we have definite targets and benchmarks which 14 years experience tells us works to help families resolve not only their own problems and service needs but also moves them, with support from Keys, to help other families with similar issues and even become in local and state policy making. Our mission is to turn parents into advocates, for their own and others children. |
