A family support program of Parent to Parent of Vermont providing health information.

Family Voices Regional Leadership Conference
"Building Leaders for Healthy Families 2010" October 15-17, 2002, at the Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, Ashford, CT.
Click here for Agenda, 2010 Goals, and Directions to this conference.  To register, you can print a registration form from our link below or contact Kay Van Woert, Family Voices Coordinator at (802)985-5668 or kvanwoert@aol.com ©   click for Registration Form

FAMILY VOICES of Vermont is a family support program of Parent to Parent of Vermont providing health information. Check out Family Voices of Vermont and National Links on http://www.partoparvt.org/fv.html

Improvements Proposed in Nursing, Personal Care, and Respite Programs
An historic collaboration between the Vermont State Agency of Human Services (AHS) and advocacy groups led by Vermont Family Voices/Parent to Parent of Vermont and the Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights is continuing its ambitious work to make adequate, equitable, flexible, and high quality personal care, nursing, and respite available to all Vermonters with disabilities in need of these services.  On June 11, 2002, a second "Respite Summit" was held in Montpelier to continue to share information, experiences, and perspectives.  Parties reviewed the preliminary recommendations proposed by AHS in response to issues identified in the first respite summit and identified continuing challenges and long and short term approaches to improve programs and services.
Jane Kitchel, Secretary of the Agency of Human Services, opened the day by describing the agency's new "policy cluster" approach to issues that provide complex challenges across programs and departments.  A policy cluster work group has been developed within AHS to work on long-term care challenges. (For more information via the web go to www.ahs.state.vt.us/policyclusters.)  Patrick Flood, Commissioner of the Department of Aging and Disabilities, is heading up the work of this policy cluster group.  Both Secretary Kitchel and Commissioner Flood stressed the commitment of AHS to respond to the issues presented by advocates and families.
One of the earliest successes of this collaborative process was the announcement by the AHS in March that the hourly wage for personal care attendants hired directly by a family to provide care services to a child under the self-directed option was increased to $10.00 per hour.  (While about half of the children in Vermont receive personal care services through a local agency such as a home health or other designated agency, approximately 375 families opt to personally hire, train, and supervise personal care attendants.) The $10.00 wage rate makes it much easier for self-directing families to attract and retain quality caregivers to provide much needed assistance with daily living activities.
Other actions proposed at the summit by the AHS include:

• Establish a cross-departmental team to create individual care plans in the Children's Personal Care and High Tech programs to ensure better coordination and make sure no child falls through the cracks.
• Develop a case management function in the Children's Personal Care program.
• Expand consumer directed options in the High Tech and children's mental health programs.
• Develop capacity to provide training and assistance to individuals and families who chose to self direct their own care.
• Increase flexibility in how and when families and consumers use allotted personal care hours.
• Establish consistency and improve accountability in the practice and procedures of personal care providers with input from families and consumers.
• Develop regional registries of individuals willing to provide personal care and respite services.
• Resolve the extreme difficulties experienced by some families in the High Tech Program due to the shortage of nurses.  AHS has established a High Tech crisis team to identify families in extreme stress and is working with Professional Nurses Service and the Home Health Assembly to provide high tech aides to wrap around unfilled nursing hours.
• Work to resolve the conflicts between TANF work requirements and the care needs of families with children with disabilities.

Family Opportunity Act wins Senate Committee Approval, S.321
On July 11, 2002, The Senate Committee on Finance passed the bipartisan Family Opportunity Act by voice vote.  The proposal, which Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) first introduced with Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), allows states to create options for families with disabled children to buy into Medicaid while continuing to work.  Parents would pay for Medicaid coverage on a sliding scale. To view the full text of Senator Grassley's press release go to http://finance.senate.gov/press/grassley/prf071102a.pdf. ©

Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2002, S.2489
On July 11, 2002, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed legislation introduced by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) to provide more relief to family caregivers through increased access to respite care services.  Under the bipartisan legislationgrants would be available to states to help increase availability of respite care services and the training of respite care workers and volunteers.  To view the full text of Senator Clinton's Press Release go to the Parent to Parent website http://www.partoparvt.org/tempRespite.html.   ©

To check the status of any bill before Congress, go to the website for Legislative Information on the Internet - http://thomas.loc.gov.

Maternal and Child Health Bureau to Fund Six Family-to-Family Health Care Information and Education Centers, including Parent to Parent of Vermont
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau's (MCHB) Division of Services For Children with Special Healthcare Needs/Integrated Services Branch (DSCSHN/ISB) recently conducted an objective competitive grant review in order to fund a network of state-wide centers planned and administered by families, in partnership with Title V and other providers. Based upon current availability of funds, a total of 6 approved applications can now be funded.  Approximately $544,700 of federal funds per year for 4 years, beginning June 1, 2002, will be used to support the following six applicants: Support for Families of Children with Disabilities, San Francisco, CA, Parent to Parent of Vermont, Williston, VT, PACER Center, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, Maine Parent Federation, Augusta, ME, Family Voices of Tennessee of the TN Disability Coalition, Nashville, TN, and Florida Institute for Family Involvement, Crawfordville, FL.
For more details on the goals and implementation of the program funds in Vermont, see related article under Family Support page. ©

Family Voices Email Alert Network!
Parent to Parent and Family Voices of Vermont have been highly successful working with families to seek change in local, state, and national policies that provide barriers to family centered, adequate health care for children with special health needs.
Your family stories are the key.
Policy makers respond first and foremost to real people and real situations to understand what is or is not working for Vermont families.
Family Voices at Parent to Parent of Vermont is starting an email alert network to better inform and connect families on what is happening which may affect our children.  If you would like to stay informed, please email us at p2pvt@partoparvt.org and put "email alert network" in the subject line and you will be added to the list. You may be as active or quietly supportive as you like.  ©

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