The History of the Parent to Parent Movement

1971-2002

The first Parent to Parent program in the U.S. was founded by Fran Porter, a parent, who collaborated with Shirley Dean, a social worker in 1971 and petitioned the Greater Omaha Arc in Omaha, Nebraska to establish Pilot Parents of Nebraska, a program in which parents of children with disabilities could share information and emotional support with other parents through a one-to-one match.

In 1974 Patty McGill Smith joined Pilot Parents and with her leadership received a regional developmental disability grant to help establish Parent to Parent programs in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. Within two years there were local programs in these four states and parents across the U.S. were calling Pilot Parents of Nebraska for information on setting up a Parent to Parent program in their own community.

For 36 years the Parent to Parent movement made steady progress, with the growth of many statewide, regional and disability specific peer support programs. In an effort to learn more about this movement and to study its impact, Ann and Rud Turnbull, Co-Directors of the Beach Center on Families and Disability hired Betsy Santelli in 1992 to conduct a national survey of Parent to Parent program administrators to learn about their
structures, services, funding, and answers to many other questions. This initial study led to the development of ongoing support for Parent to Parent efforts. Between 1992 and 2002 Betsy Santelli served as a vital link for Parent to Parent program directors across the country, offering guidance and materials based on survey findings and, connecting more experienced programs with emerging ones.

Since 1986, Parent to Parent programs attempted to have a conference every other year. The conference served as a place to discover new, best practices and re-energize around common missions. The conferences started in Nebraska in the early years and progressed to where a statewide program would sponsor the conference every other year, trying to hold the conference throughout the United States. Washington State served as host in 1986, Kansas in 1988, Florida in 1990, Arizona in 1992, North Carolina in 1994, New Mexico in 1996, Georgia in 1998, Nevada in 2000 and Pennsylvania in 2002. As these conferences grew the added dimension of Statewide Director’s Meetings were paired with the conferences. The need for Directors to meet annually was responded to by the Beach Center who generously assigned the coordinating of these meetings to Betsy.

Betsy Santelli was the touch-point of the Parent to Parent movement for many years. Her untimely death in 2002 came on the heal of two milestones in the Parent to Parent movement; the publication of The Parent to Parent Handbook by Brookes Publishing Company in 2001, and funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to strengthen and coordinate national efforts to ensure access to community based support for families with children who have special needs throughout the country.

History of Parent to Parent USA

2003-2011

Parent to Parent of the United States (Parent to Parent USA) was created in 2003 with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to ensure that families nation-wide whose children have special needs have access to Parent to Parent support. Founders and affiliations: Nancy DiVenere, Parent to Parent of Vermont; Mary Slaughter, Raising Special Kids, AZ; Kathy Brill, Parent to Parent of PA; Connie Ginsberg, Family Connection of South Carolina.

 
Parent to Parent support – the matching of experienced, trained Support Parents with families seeking support has been proven effective in helping families cope with their day to day lives, connect with community resources and navigate the health care system. Parent to Parent USA has identified and connected all statewide Parent to Parent programs nationally, a first step toward forming an Alliance amongst all family support programs in the country that demonstrate the following:

• Parent to Parent support as a core organizational component
  
• Commitment to implement Parent to Parent USA - endorsed practices

Parent to Parent USA was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2006. Since this date the P2PUSA Board of Directors has met bi-monthly to review, advise and implement mission driven, membership advised policies and practices In October 2006 with funding from key partners including Maternal and Child Health, the Beach Center on Disability and Family Voices Parent to Parent USA hosted a meeting attended by 27 Statewide Parent to Parent program directors. In June, 2009 Texas Parent to Parent hosted the Parent to Parent USA Director’s Meeting attended by thirty-eight program staff representing 21 emerging and established statewide Parent to Parent programs. Colorado Parent to Parent will host P2PUSA 2011 Director's Meeting in September.

 Tribute to Polly Arango

Parent to Parent USA 2012

Staff

Introducing our Executive Director, Kathy Brill

Kathy Brill M.Ed. Kathy is the mother of three daughters. Her youngest, Alexa, uses numerous supports and assistive technology to assist her in being successfully and fully included in all aspects of her home, school, and community. Kathy was director of Parent to Parent of PA for seven years, hosting the International Parent to Parent Conference in 2002. She also served as Chair of PA's State Interagency Coordinating Council for three years. In addition to serving on the Parent to Parent USA board, she serves as president of PA TASH, and secretary of National Coalition on Self-Determination. She is also a trainer for Natural Allies in Pennsylvania, an effort to build collaborative partnerships between higher education in early childhood and parents who are raising children with disabilities and special health care needs. Kathy received the National Council on Disability 2006 Leadership Award in appreciation of outstanding contributions to the improvement of disability policy in the United States presented by Chair Lex Frieden and Executive Director Ethel D. Briggs.

Board Members

• President: Dana Yarbrough, Director, Parent to Parent of Virginia
• Vice-President: Laura Warren, Co-Director, Texas Parent to Parent
• Treasurer: Robin Mathea, Director Parent to Parent of Wisconsin
• Past-President: Nancy DiVenere, Co-founder Parent to Parent USA
• Joni Bruce, Executive Director, Oklahoma Family Network
• Librada Estrada, Associate Director, Workforce Leadership and Development and Family Involvement, Association of Maternal Child Health Program
• Nanfi N. Lubogo, Co-Director PATH Parent to Parent of Connecticut
• Jackie Richards, Executive Director, Family Connection of South Carolina
• George Singer, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara
• Debi Tucker, Executive Director, Parent to Parent of Georgia

Dana Yarbrough is the parent of a daughter with multiple physical, intellectual and sensory disabilities. Since 1997, she has directed Virginia's state Parent to Parent office. In addition to her work promoting best practice in the parent to parent model in Virginia, Dana coordinates family support and self-advocacy projects at the Partnership for People with Disabilities, Virginia's University Center on Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and co-directs Virginia's Family to Family Health Information and Education Center. Dana is a 1997 graduate of Partners in Policymaking and has chaired several state and local early intervention and special education advisory committees.

Laura Warren is the parent of a 26-year-old son who was a micro-preemie and has mild physical and sensory disabilities. She has been involved in parent to parent support for the past 18 years as a volunteer, Parent Advocate, and Director of a local parent to parent program and co-founder and Executive Director of Texas Parent to Parent. Laura is a 1993 graduate of Partners in Policymaking.

Robin Mathea BA, Business Administration, is Director of Parent to Parent of Wisconsin. Robin's experience includes the research, development and operation of service delivery programs for Family Resource Connection serving three counties, Northern Regional Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Center serving 15 counties, and Parent to Parent of Wisconsin serving the State. She is a member of the Executive Board for Parent to Parent of the United States (P2P USA) and Board Member for Northern Wisconsin Infant Mental Health Task Force and WSPEI (Department of Public Instruction's Wisconsin Statewide Parent-Educator Initiative). Robin is an experienced trainer for Parent to Parent of Wisconsin; Great Beginnings, The First Years Last Forever, Early Childhood Brain Research; Wisconsin Parent and Provider Early Learning Network; Parents in Partnership; and, Facilitator for PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope). Robin's family experience drives her passion for Parent to Parent.

Nancy DiVenere BA, St Michael's College, was, until 2004, the Executive Director of Parent to Parent of Vermont, a statewide organization she founded in 1987. Nancy developed Parent to Parent of Vermont's Family Faculty Program designed to teach medical students and pediatric residents. The program was recognized by the Association of American Medical Colleges as the first of its kind in the country. In 1998, Nancy was honored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with a Community Health Leadership Award as one of ten individuals in the country "changing the shape of health care in America." Nancy's work was inspired by the birth of her son Brett whose early years were compromised due to a birth injury.

Joni Bruce is Executive Director of The Oklahoma Family Network, Oklahoma’s Parent-to-Parent and Family-to-Family Health Care Resource and Education Center for families of children with special health care needs. Joni received her B.S. from Oklahoma State University in 1983 with a major in Marketing and minor emphasis in Biology. She is a 2007 graduate of Partners in Policymaking and a 1999 graduate of Resolve Through Sharing grief counselor training. She is the mother of one child who died due to a genetic disorder after a two month stay in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and two other children (including an adopted son). Both of her living children have been diagnosed with chronic health issues which require services from multiple medical professionals and the school system. Joni began her work with the Neonatal Parents Network shortly after its creation in June, 1997 and became the part-time Executive Director in December, 1997, which became The Oklahoma Family Network (OFN) in 2002 after merging with the Special Parents Access Network. Joni is responsible for the overall management of The Oklahoma Family Network, fundraising, grant writing, and develops partnerships with agencies, hospitals and others in the state who serve those with special needs.

Librada Estrada, MPH, CHES, CPCC, joined AMCHP in February 2008 as Associate Director for Workforce & Leadership Development and Family Involvement. As such, she manages the New Directors Mentor Program and the Family Scholar Program. Being at AMCHP and working on both programs provides her an opportunity to work with national MCH and family leaders on areas of strong interest to her—leadership development, family involvement, training, competency development, professional and personal growth, and team development.

As a life-long learner, Librada has successfully completed the MCH-PHLI at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) in May 2011 and the Emerging Leaders in Public Health Program in May 2008. In 2002, she completed a three-year training fellowship, the Public Health Prevention Service Program, based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During this fellowship, she spent two years at the Prince William Health District in Manassas, Virginia. Librada also participated as the Edward Roybal Public Health Fellow in a nine-month policy fellowship through the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in 1999.

Librada is a trained facilitator and a Certified Professional Co-Active (CPCC) Coach. She has received certification in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment tool and in The Leadership Circle Profile 360 degree assessment. Librada received a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, with an emphasis in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Boston University. Librada is the parent of two children and when not juggling their activities enjoys reading, card-making, trying out new recipes or taking long runs

Nanfi N. Lubogo is Co-Director PATH Parent to Parent of Connecticut. Nanfi is the parent of two children the oldest of whom has special needs. Nanfi served as the Chair of the Primary Care Family Advisory Council at Connecticut Children's Medical Center and was the Regional Coordinator of Connecticut Birth to Three Mentor Program responsible for linking parents entering the Birth to Three System with Parent Mentors. Nanfi has completed Policymaking and Advocacy Training, Multicultural Early Childhood Training a PEATC Training Center at George Mason University and Parent Leadership Training at the National Leadership Institute in Massachusetts.

Jackie Richards, Executive Director of Family Connection, is a Licensed Medical Social Worker and has years of experience as a pediatric social worker. Her own son, who has ADHD, has taught her that “instructions” for raising a child with special needs does not come in a textbook. The greatest instruction has come from other parents and her son. Jackie is trained in family-centered care and continues to advocate for family-centered care in all aspects of medical care for children with special needs.

George Singer Ph.D., is a professor and a member of the Special Education, Disability, and Risk emphasis group in the Graduate School of Education, University of California Santa Barbara. Since 1985, questions surrounding families and persons with disabilities have been a primary research interest. From 1991-95 George was the director of the Hood Center for Family Support at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical School where he and his colleagues conducted studies about self-determination and family support. From 1995-2000 George conducted a federally funded project in his local hospital to introduce Family Centered Care practices in the neonatal intensive care unit. He is interested in the philosophy of social science and its intersection with actual day to day practice of research. George sees his work as primarily aimed to provide pragmatic insights, methods, materials, and policies that will be useful in the lives of people with disabilities and their families. In his private life George is a published poet, furnisher maker, father, grandfather, and fan of golden-haired retrievers.

Debi Tucker received a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education from Florida State University. While teaching, she implemented a peer tutor program and the first middle school inclusion math class in North Florida. She also had the pleasure of operating the first Child Care/Early Head Start Partnership in the nation. Ms. Tucker has been administrating non-profit programs for over 12 years, and currently serves as the Executive Director of Parent to Parent of Georgia. She has overseen many grants, contracts and collaborative agreements, and her agency currently serves as Georgia’s Parent Training and Information Center, Family to Family Health Information Center, Family Support 360 Project of National Significance, Babies Can’t Wait (Georgia’s early intervention program) Central Directory, and most importantly, P2PUSA’s state affiliate. As a parent of a child with special health care needs, she has chaired a School Advisory Council, served on transition committees, and trained parents and professionals on scientifically based research. She believes that collaboration and positive partnerships will bring about the best outcomes for families.