When Morgan Koch’s 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter was born with traumatic brain injuries, Koch said a lot of her questions about her daughter’s medical complications went unanswered by doctors.
Being able to ask another parent who had been through a similar situation questions about therapy services, feeding equipment and medical routines would have been a tremendous help, she thought. So when she learned about the Parent to Parent mentoring program at Siskin Children’s Institute, Koch decided to undergo the training to help other parents navigate the often complicated systems that provide services to children with special needs.
The program is offered through the Helen Siskin Pregulman Family Voices of Tennessee Southeast Partnership, the result of a collaboration among Siskin Children’s Institute, Family Voices of Tennessee and the Tennessee Disability Coalition that was established in January. The goal of the partnership is to create a hub for families of children with special health care needs to access resources, support, guidance and services.
Family Voices of Tennessee Southeast Partnership Coordinator Lisa Spurlock describes Family Voices – a national family-led organization for parents of children with special needs – as a unique form of networking that involves working closely with existing programs.
“We’re [Chattanooga] a small community that has a lot of support in place, but for a family seeking support it can be very labor intensive,” said Spurlock, who has worked with families of children with special health care needs for more than 30 years as a physical therapy assistant.