Family Voices of Minnesota is a grass roots network of families whose children, youth and young adults have special health care needs and/or disabilities. Family Voices of MN includes an e-mail network through which local, state and national information is exchanged and there are occasional mailings.
If you are the parent of a child or youth with special health needs or disabilities, you are not alone:
There are about 160,946 children with special health care needs and/or disabilities in Minnesota.
- 20% of all Minnesota families with children have at least one child with special health care needs.
- 29,240 children have a limitation in their ability to do things;
- 23,697 children need physical, speech or occupational therapy because of their special health care need.
Family Voices of MN is a grass roots leadership network that promotes:
- Family centered care
- Parent professional collaboration
- Parent leadership and mentorship across systems and through out the state of Minnesota
"It takes a team of people to care for our child; doctors, nurses, pharmasists, home care, and us as parents, it took my husband and I a while to understand what we brought to the team. Now we know that we have expertise and experience about our child that no one else on the team has. Our expertise needs to be valued equally with that of the professionals as we make decisions and plan care." Jack's mom
What Does Family Voices of MN Do?
1. Connects families with one another
2. Creates connections with all advocacy organizations in Minnesota
3. Strengthens connections with the Title V, Minnesota Children with Special Health Needs Program at the Department of Health
4. Facilitates opportunities to enhance leadership skills for parents and youth across the state
5. Connects families with local, state and national committees to promote parent/professional collaboration across all systems
6. Provides information through the Family Voices of MN e-mail network, web-site and mailings
7. Promotes and supports cultural competence across all systems
Family Voices of MN participates in and supports the mission and principles of Family Voices National:
Mission: Family Voices, a national grassroots network of families and friends, advocates for health care services that are family-centered, community-based, comprehensive, coordinated and culturally competent for all children and youth with special health care needs; promotes the inclusion of all families as decision makers at all levels of health care; and supports essential partnerships between families and professionals.
Principles: Family Voices believes that children and youth with special health needs face common problems caused by fundamental inadequacies in our health care system. Family Voices does not support any specific health care reform plan. Instead, the role of Family Voices is to advocate for the inclusion of a set of basic principles in every health care reform proposal. Those principles, which have been found effective in thousands of communities throughout the United States, are:
• Every child and deserves quality primary and specialty health care that is affordable and within geographic reach.
• Families are the core of this nation's health system, their children's most important health providers and caregivers.
• Quality health care is family-centered, community-based, coordinated, and culturally competent.
• Family-centered health benefits and services are flexible, and guided by what children and youth need.
• Strong family-professional partnerships improve decision-making, enhance outcomes, and assure quality.
• Families practice cost-effectiveness and expect the same from our health systems and services.
For information e-mail Family Voices of Minnesota: network@familyvoicesofminnesota.org
To Join the Family Voices of MN Network:
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