Hope & Courage

Spring 2009

New Parent Partner Coalition Launched Statewide

The United Advocates for Children and Families (UACF) has created a new statewide network of Parent Partners and Advocates. A Parent Partner is defined as ‘A parent or primary caregiver who is raising (or has raised) a child/youth who has emotional and/or behavioral challenges and has experience in advocating for his/her child in multiple settings or systems.’

Many of the State’s Parent Partners and/or Advocates are employed by local county offices and community-based organizations. In this era of budgetary cuts and program reduction, the role and function of Parent Partners becomes essential in helping local communities, counties and other service providers promote and encourage community support systems for families, children and youth.

It has been estimated that over 1 million children in California have an emotional, behavioral or mental disorder…. and 600,000 of these children and youth will not receive appropriate treatment. The Parent Partner Coalition is an unprecedented statewide effort to share best practices across the state, learn from peers and help in the recruitment, training and placement of family members in the new workforce created by the Mental Health Services Act (Proposition 63). The project planning team has worked over the past few months to develop an infrastructure for the network. The team consists of the following program architects:

Lanita Mims, Family Partner Supervisor, Seneca Company, Team Facilitator, San Francisco,
Susan Braun, Parent Partner, Sutter County
Rhonda Parker, Program Coordinator Parent Partner Project, Modesto
Sandena Bader, UACF Family Advocate Program Director, Placer
Toni Meritt, Family Partner, San Francisco
Adrian Owens, Seneca Company, San Francisco
Carolyn Cooper, UACF Founding Mother, Consultant
Karen Hart, UACF Founding Mother, Consultant, Monterey County
Vicky Mendoza, Chief Officer, UACF Institute for Family and Youth Leadership

This new coalition is a program component of the UACF Institute for Family and Youth Leadership. The coalition encourages all organizations currently serving children, youth and their families to join in partnership and leverage needed services. “Too many families, children and youth are silently suffering lacking access to resources, experiencing stigma and discrimination and faced with inadequate clinical resources that delay diagnosis and treatment. Growing the legions of Parent Partners and equipping their network with best practices and training will result in enhanced services to families statewide,” says Oscar Wright, CEO of UACF.

For more information about the Parent Partner Coalition, please visit our website at www.uacf4hope.org or call (916) 643-1530 x 109

Parent Partner Coalition Objective
To promote, support, and recognize the efforts of California Parent Partners who enhance the services provided to parents and caregivers of children and youth.

Parent Partner Coalition Goals
To promote awareness of the philosophy, value and inclusion of Parent Partners
To Support Parent Partners through networking, education, and training
To recognize achievements, best practices, and leaders in the field of Parent Partners