Supporting Parents of Children with Special Needs

On April 24th, community leaders met in Searcy, Arkansas to hear from a panel of parents and educators on how we can support families impacted by special needs. The meeting was hosted by the 100 Families Alliance of White County with County Coordinator Teresa Allred facilitating.

The objective of these meetings is to bring community resources together to network and invite them to take advantage of HopeHub, a case management software that connects organizations to produce significantly better outcomes for communities.

Sally Paine, Director of Sunshine School, spoke to the benefit of this meeting and the 100 Families initiative for schools.

"We, as teachers, are sometimes busy doing what we have to do for our job and to pull in these outside groups is another job. So through the years, I thought, it has been kind of hard to get those groups together and have people come and benefit from that."

Paine went on to speak about the importance of networking in order to make people aware of the resources you offer and how we can partner.

"That's half the battle sometimes is just making people aware."

With that in mind, Teresa Allred, 100 Families White County Coordinator, began to pose questions to the parents on the panel who have experience in raising children with special needs, in order to raise awareness and to identify how we can help.

Amanda Quick has a daughter who was diagnosed with special needs in October.

"When you're first diagnosed," Quick says, "there is so much information thrown at the parents...along with all of the physical changes that our child has to go through. Watching your child get finger-pricked multiple times a day, and she's screaming, breaks your heart."

Quick says that when it comes to the medical care of a child for special needs, it is crucial to advocate for yourself and your child.

Another parent on the panel, Rachel Borst, who has been caring for her daughter for 24 years, believes that support is crucial.

"It takes a village," she says, "and I am so grateful for my village."

Borst says she has found it difficult to ask for help in the past and because of that, people may think she has it all together. Borst claims that the little things people do from an encouraging phone call to offering to babysit for a couple hours has made all the difference in her parenting journey.

Borst also believes self care should be prioritized saying, "If I can't take care of me, I can't take care of her."

Chloe Woodle is a parent who is able to give additional perspective to this topic, because in addition to having two children who have been diagnosed with dwarfism, she herself is also diagnosed with dwarfism.

"This world is not accommodating for little people," she says, but she believes that her children are benefiting from having a mother who has experienced the same challenges they face.

Woodle agrees with Borst that support is critical, not just for the physical challenges of raising a child with special needs, but for the emotional challenges as well.

By hearing the stories of those with lived experience and by taking action to connect with existing resources in our communities, we can provide wrap around support to families impacted by special needs.