Families Helping Families of Greater New Orleans, Inc.

Families Helping Families believes all children, regardless of the severity of their disability, should and can reach their maximum potential if they have parents that understand their educational rights and actively advocate for school, work and community inclusion. Our goals are:

1. Ensure all children with disabilities attend class and school in the neighborhood public school with their typical peers. Children that attend special or segregated classes do not have the same access to academics as those in typical classes and schools and therefore, have a disadvantage going into adulthood.

2. Ensure all individuals with disabilities that chose to live in their community, work in their community and recreate have the opportunity. Adults with disabilities have the same wants and needs as typical adults and want to have jobs, be homeowners, and have meaningful lives outside in the home.

Peer to Peer Support –
This is the #1 reason families call us. Everyone needs someone to talk to when they are dealing with challenges in their lives. Frequently parents of children with disabilities don't have family or friends that understand these challenges. When new parents call us their first response is “wow, you get it". As parents we know firsthand what it's like to raise a child with a disability. We understand the initial grieving process and the eventual amazement the child brings to your family.

Information and Referral –
Parents need to be provided with good information and connected with appropriate services. Rather than spending endless hours searching the internet for appropriate services, our staff has already done most of this work. We know what services are available through the state, parish and local systems. We've navigated these complex systems and know where the barriers to service exist. You don't have to walk this road alone. We can put you on the right path and make sure you end up where you are supposed to be. In addition we have an extensive lending library on most disability topics. We publish Exceptional Times, our monthly e-newsletter. We also have very active social media pages and LaDisability Talk – a private Facebook page for parents and other professionals to ask questions and share information or upcoming events of interest to parents or individuals with disabilities and a website with other valuable resources. If we don't have it, we will help you find it.

Education and Training -
Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for the rest of his life. This is our motto around education and training. We believe the best thing any parent or individual with a disability can do is empower themselves through education and training to effectively advocate. Nobody cares about your child or yourself more than you do. It is critical that you take this role seriously and learn as much as you can. Children with disabilities can achieve great things, if systems don't give up on them. Often the most successful adults with disabilities are the ones who were pushed along by their parents who never allowed the “professionals" to tell them they can't accomplish certain things. Families Helping Families of Jefferson offers over 100 annual trainings on an array of disability related topics. Some of those include IEP Boot Camps; Progress Monitoring; Communication Skills; Driving with a Disability; Transitioning from High School to Work or Post-Secondary School, Basic Individual with Disabilities Education Rights, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and more. Trainings are offered in person, webinar and online.

Over the last few years, we've started receiving more requests for support than we can handle. This is FHF is fortunate to possess the staffing with great capabilities to meet the needs of the families we support.

In our latest fiscal year (2021-22) we record 7,100 interactions with families seeking our assistance. Our staffing is comprised of 5.5 FTE program staff that handles the bulk of the request for support. The administrative staff is comprised of 1.5 FTE and the Executive Director frequently pitches in to assist program staff as needed.

In addition to human resources, we also possess adequate financial resources to pay staff timely, maintain office space, supplies, computers, up-to-date software, etc.

Our volunteer Board of Directors is also a huge resource as they are always willing to pitch in as needed.

FHF fiscal year ended on June 30, 2017, and 100% of our goals were reached for the 2015-16 fiscal year.

Over 6,500 individuals were supported through our Peer to Peer Support Model. 97% of those surveyed reported they had more knowledge after working with a staff member.

Over 1,200 individuals participated in trainings. 92% of those evaluated reported feeling more confident about advocating for their child.