CARD Selects Partners for New Program
When parents first learn their child has autism or a related disability, life changes from that minute on.
"To be told my child has autism was the most frightening day of my life," said Susan Magers, who has just been selected to work with The Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) in a partnership providing supports to families having autism or related disabilities.
The Family Community Partner Program (FCP) is a collaborative project developed by CARD-USF to help train community partners who, like Susan, are family members of an individual with autism, share and understand CARD's values, and are connected to their local support community.
"Over the course of the last 31/2 years," said Susan Magers, "I have been blessed to meet and learn from many wonderful people who traveled the autism path before me. My mission is to be an advocate for children and their families and to do for others what was done for me."
"We have an amazing group of parents," said CFS's Nila Benito, co-PI of CFP. They were already providing support to families so CARD staff decided to formalize a pilot project that provides training for coping skills, CARD values and information on a variety of supports."
"I would like to share our experiences," said Joseph Dawson, father of a ten year old son with autism "to let these families know that there is help and support, and direct them to the paths that will help meet their individual needs." Joseph is an administrator with the public school system and will be able to offer both personal and professional insight.
"The community partners will work hand in hand to assist CARD with the support specialists to ensure that families receive the resources and supports they need," added Nila Benito.
Currently, partners have been chosen from five counties, including St. Lucie, Sarasota, Indian River, Polk and Hillsborough. CARD-USF will provide coordination, training (the first 2-day seminar occurred in early April), access to materials, and other supports enabling CARD Partners to meet regional and community needs at a more local and informal level. This will consist of providing emotional and local resource support to families through home visits and telephone support. Depending on how this pilot progresses, CARD is hopeful that the FCP program will continue and be expanded.
To learn more, contact Nila Benito at (813) 974-7875 or Georgia Pappas at (813) 974-8808.
CARD is located within the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS), a division of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. Since its inception in 1984, the Institute's mission has been to improve service delivery systems for children with serious emotional or behavioral disabilities and their families.