AUGUST2002

Do you have any examples of the role of a family service coordinator or liaison in schools or with schools?

1. South County, Rhode Island: (Local school sytem) This local school district established a Parent Liaison position within the school department. It was a part-time position, originally 10 hours per week, then 20 hours in the 3rd and 4th year. The person was a parent of a child with SED. She had the responsibility of contacting families whose child had been referred for our wraparound programs. She would set up an initial call or meeting and review the whole process with them. She would set up the meeting schedules, and send out all communication. She would facilitate meetings between the school, mental health agencies, and other agencies. She was a vital link and advocate for these children and their families. Many times she was a calming agent to all parties involved. She had an office at the county mental health center, as well as space in the school department to make calls, copies, and conduct general office activities. She was initially paid $10 per hour, and then $12 per hour in year 3 and 4. She was paid as a consultant by the school department, with no benefits or employee status. She helped us develop written information for families and served on our parent advisory committee. She would attend IEP meetings, Wraparound meetings, and assist families and the school in locating and coordinating additional services if needed. Initially the funds were part of the federal grant, then they became part of our IDEA Part B grant.
   
   For more information: contact Sandy Keenan, Senior Education Advisor, at skeenan@air.org.
2. Project REACH, R.I. Statewide System of Care: Lisa Conlan, who was the Director of the Rhode Island Parent Support Network in 1998, wrote the following summary in Volume 1 of the Promising Practice Series. She sees the Family Service Coordinator as the most essential feature of the Rhode Island REACH project and the source of the project's success. Her own words were, "The Family Service Coordinator is the weaver. They are the ones who build trust with the family, bring everyone together, support the family as a decision maker through the individualized service plan process, do all the follow up, and look for the outcomes. They are the ones who are there to hear from the parent when a plan is not working out or when the family goes into crisis. They hold the web together."
   
   At all levels, credit for the success of Rhode Island's statewide system of care initiative is given to the role and work of the Family Service Coordinators. Parents relate to Family Service Coordinators because they are seen as people who have walked in their shoes. As a result, families respond to the system of care and become engaged in the Wraparound process. Relationships between enrolled families and providers are more collaborative. The range of service options in the community has expanded. Family supports and crisis intervention planning are routinely considered by teams. For example, the discharge planning that Family Service Coordinators are doing with youth at the Rhode Island Training School connects them to the system of care, which provides community-based services and supports that help the youth reintegrate into the community and sustain a positive lifestyle. This is one factor contributing to the dramatically reduced recidivism rate. The bottom line is that outcomes for children and their families are better.
   
   For more information regarding the family service coordinator position in Rhode Island, contact Lisa Conlan at lisaconlan2@aol.com.
3. Nashville Connection: In the Tennessee grant community site, Nashville Connection, each family is assigned a Family Service Coordinator (FSC), which is a parent professional who has successfully navigated the various systems for their own child or children with SED. The FSC works with the parent to identify the child's and the family's strengths; then looking at the child's and family's needs, goals are set. Within the educational system, FSCs work in a role of support and advocacy. FSCs educate and coach parents through processes related to the child's rights under IDEA by assisting them with requesting S-Teams and IEP meetings and entering those meetings as a full partner. Parents are coached and have modeled for them the advocacy tools of documentation, negotiation and professional assertiveness.
   
   When children have the appropriate placements and accommodations in their educational setting, they are more likely to succeed. Throughout the entire school year, FSCs visit with the students in the school to offer support to the child. They visit children in their schools at least once per week and assist the parents and the school staff in further opening lines of communication. When a child is having difficulty in school, the FSC is often the first contact made by the school staff. FSCs will then encourage school staff to notify parents, or FSCs will contact them. With the parent's preferences, the FSC will then help to coordinate responders to the school to settle the situation. In situations that warrant law enforcement involvement, the FSCs have been able to mediate for children to have appropriate therapeutic interventions. When juvenile justice action has been necessary, the FSC functions as a support to the family to navigate through the juvenile justice system and transition the child back into their community school placement. Occasionally, the relationships between the school and the parents are so damaged that the parent no longer is willing to deal with school officials. In these circumstances, the FSC will serve as a buffer between the parents and the school until relationships can be mended and the parents understand the importance of being in partnership with the school staff again. Typically, the relationship problems stem from the parent feeling unheard, blamed, and left out in the school setting. When parents are included properly through advocacy of the FSC, schools and parents often come to realize that they do indeed share the common goal of the child's success and welfare. In addition to the FSC working in the schools, the Nashville Connection grant site also utilizes Mental Health Liaisons to provide training, education, and support to all school staff so that they may more effectively work with children with SED and their families.
   
   Prepared by Lisa Lund. For more information, contact Lisa Lund, Project Director, Tennessee Voices for Children, llund@tnvoices.org, phone: 615-269-7751, fax: 615-269-8914