In the fall of 1988, the Beach Center on Families and Disability at The University of Kansas initiated a national survey of Parent to Parent programs to discover more about the evolution of Parent to Parent. Close to 400 Parent to Parent programs participated in the national survey and the data provide a snapshot of Parent to Parent.

Parent to Parent programs range from very small ones serving just a few parents, to very large ones serving several hundred families. The average size Parent to Parent program is providing support to between 13 and 25 referred parents. Some are brand new programs and some have been around for 20 years. Some of these programs have no annual budget, a few have budgets of over $500,000. Less than half of Parent to Parent programs have a paid coordinator, and all of the veteran parents who are matched with referred parents are unpaid. All Parent to Parent programs provide emotional and informational support to families through the 1-1 Parent to Parent match between a veteran parent and a newly referred parent.

The vast majority of these programs are cross-disability. Of the families participating in Parent to Parent as referred parents, 85% have a child with special needs who is younger than 12, although an increasing number of veteran programs are now matching families with adolescents and young adults. With Part C of IDEA supporting early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, more families are being connected with Parent to Parent programs at the time of the birth of their child.

In response to requests from parents and program directors of Parent to Parent programs for efficacy data on Parent to Parent, a participatory action research team of parents and researchers conducted a 3-year national study to determine the effectiveness of parent to parent support for referred parents. Parents and researchers worked together to design the study, write the grant application; and carry out this important study involving 400 parents nationally. Dr. George Singer was the director of the study, and the results indicate that parent to parent support increases parents' acceptance of their situation and their sense of being able to cope. Moreover, parent to parent support helps parents to make progress on the need they present when they first contact a Parent to Parent program, and over 80% of the parents found parent to parent support to be helpful. In fact, the data indicate a direct correlation between the number of contacts referred parents have with their supporting parent and how satisfied referred parents are with the support they receive, the greater the number of contacts, the greater the satisfaction. Interviews with parents suggest that the kind of support Parent to Parent offers is unique and cannot come from any other source. Based upon these significant data, the research team recommends that Parent to Parent support should be an essential component of a comprehensive family support system.

The Quality Standards endorsed and promoted by Parent to Parent USA resulted from this National Study. View the following Quality Standards in pdf format:

• Evidence-based Practice- Summary
• Evidence-based Practice- Detailed
• Recruiting Training Support Parents
• Matching and Follow-up

In 33 states, there are not only local Parent to Parent programs, but established state-wide Parent to Parent networks. The Beach Center conducted a survey of these statewide Parent to Parent programs to learn more about the services they provide to parents and local programs, how they are funded and staffed, their organizational structure, and program developed materials they have to share. The state-wide programs often provide training and technical assistance to the local programs in a variety of different ways, and make it possible for parents to be matched statewide when a local match isn't available. In some states, the statewide Parent to Parent program also serves as the federally-funded Parent Training and Information Center.

The Beach Center on Disability has conducted research for and with families on family and policy issues related to disability - including research about Parent to Parent. To learn more about the Beach Center, its research, and its products and resources, visit their webpage at www.beachcenter.org